2024 Scottish Open scores, takeaways: Ludvig Åberg leads after Round 2; Jordan Spieth misses cut (2024)

Ideal scoring conditions have been presented to players over the first two days of the 2024 Scottish Open with wind and weather absent from the Scottish coastline. With The Renaissance Club defenseless, Ludvig Åberg has laid siege across his first 36 holes, backing up an opening 6-under 64 with another on Friday to enter the weekend at 12 under and one stroke clear of Frenchman Antoine Rozner.

"It's been very nice," Åberg said. "I felt like we've had a very good game plan and executing the shots. We try not to force anything. We try to have a lot of acceptance when we play and make sure that we put good swings on it and give ourselves plenty of chances, which I felt like we've done very well."

The young Swede got his second round started in a hurry, carding four birdies in his first eight holes to climb to the top of the leaderboard. A couple more on his second nine against no bogeys on the day pulled Åberg's name even further out before Rozner made some noise himself.

Still, only 14 months into his professional career, Åberg is gathering critical experience by the week. The 36-hole leader at last month's U.S. Open, Åberg finds himself in the same position yet again and is sure to put the lessons learned at Pinehurst No. 2 into practice over the weekend in Scotland, where a bevy of big names breathe down his neck.

A large DP World Tour contingent, including Rozner, Matteo Manassero and Rasmus Højgaard, are firmly in Åberg's rearview mirror, but the larger objects hail from the PGA Tour. Sungjae Im lost the magic in his putter from Round 1 but was still able to effectively navigate his way through to par 70 to stand at 10 under.

The South Korean has done one better than Sahith Theegala, Collin Morikawa and reigning champion Rory McIlroy through 36 holes. The Northern Irishman put together a methodical 18 holes on Friday to once again position himself for a weekend run at a national open.

The leader

1. Ludvig Åberg (-12)

Åberg's tangible statistics are what you would expect. He's top five in strokes gained off the tee, hit 31 of 36 greens in regulation and is holing his fair share of putts. What can't be measured, however, is his ability to handle a bad break. One occurred on the par-5 3rd on Friday, where the robotic right hander split the fairway off the tee.

To the naked eye, nothing appeared off, but Åberg's golf ball settled on a down slope immediately before an upslope, making it near impossible to clear the land in front of him. His second shot ultimately clipped the upslope in front of him and caused his golf ball to go offline ever so slightly, settling in a cross bunker 45 yards away from the green. Åberg laughed, brushed it off and proceeded to splash his third to inside 5 feet before making birdie.

"I think [a bad bounce is] going to happen to everyone at some point, and whenever that happens, you've just got to try to deal with it the best you can," Åberg said. "And all I can do is try to put good swings on it, and then hopefully the decision that we've made is the right one and try to hit it again when we find it."

Other contenders

2. Antoine Rozner (-11)
T3. Sungjae Im, Matteo Manassero (-10)
T5. Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Sahith Theegala, Rasmus Højgaard, Alex Noren, Alejandro Del Ray (-9)

Another week and another chance for Morikawa to step into the winner's circle for the first time in 2024. The two-time major champion has been one of the best players to not win this season, but it has not been for a lack of opportunities. He backed up his opening 65 with a 66 that featured a couple of bad breaks and missed opportunities, plus a somewhat lackadaisical performance with the driver. A small improvement with that club — which has been stellar this year — could pay big dividends for Morikawa over the weekend.

"It's awesome. Knowing that the game, you're not tweaking but you're making small refinements, it's very exciting," Morikawa said. "Doesn't mean I'm going to hope and wait for those days to come because you still can win tournaments without it. But knowing that I've had those rounds in the past and had those tournaments, I know it's going to happen at some point."

Rory's major preparations

Coming into this week, McIlroy had played the tournament immediately preceding a major championship seven times since the start of 2019. Of those seven starts, the 35-year-old has won four times, including last year's Scottish Open and this year's Wells Fargo Championship. He looks well on his way to contending for a fifth of such titles after rounds of 65-66 have put him just a handful off the 36-hole pace.

Spieth's season put on hold

Well, the links-golf maestro did not look the part this week. Missing the cut by a couple strokes, Jordan Spieth is a weekend omission at the Scottish Open for the second straight season and heads into The Open with plenty of question marks swirling around his game. The three-time major champion arrived in Scotland with his iron play trending in the right direction for the first time all season; however, it never materialized across the pond. He has started his Open career by making 10 straight cuts, but that could be in serious jeopardy at Royal Troon.

2024 Scottish Open updated odds and picks

• Ludvig Åberg: 7/4
• Rory McIlroy: 5-1
• Sungjae Im: 9-1
• Collin Morikawa: 10-1
• Alex Noren: 16-1
• Sahith Theegala: 20-1
• Antoine Rozner: 22-1
• Rasmus Højgaard: 25-1

Morikawa at 10-1 isn't too far off his pre-tournament price, and he has done nothing to suggest his good play won't continue into the weekend. Even without his driver cooperating Friday, he was able to give himself plenty of scoring chances, which will be the name of the game from here on out. If not Morikawa, then darts should be thrown down the board at a potential breakout candidates, including Tommy Fleetwood (45-1) and Justin Thomas (100-1).