Scottish Open 2013: Outsiders Who Will Close the Field Before Final Round

Acting as the final precursor to The Open Championship, Europe’s elite are currently going through their paces in an attempt to book their spot in the third major of the year, if they haven’t done so already.

Although many of golf’s major stars have failed to show up for this final warm-up, there’s still a bevy of talent on display, albeit looking slightly thin at the top of the card.

At the Castle Stuart Golf Links course in Inverness, Chris Doak has fielded a score of 66 in both of his first two days to take a lead of 12-under par, although that could all change after the halfway stage.

With the final two days set to begin on Saturday, there are those players just on the fringes of the leading 10 who will seek to stage some sort of upheaval over the next 48 hours, the more likely of whom are looked at below.

Mikko Ilonen

After going six under on the first day’s play, Finland’s Mikko Ilonen disappointed his support slightly with a second-day score of 71, rounding him off at seven-under par with two days left to go.

The 33-year-old won his first European title for six years last month, bagging himself the Nordea Masters in Sweden, carding four birdies on his final day in that run.

Similarly, Ilonen will look upon the second day of this weekend’s competition as his worst before improving for Sunday’s run-in.

The three-time Open Championship finisher must now seek to resurrect whatever it was that helped him so much on the first day of Scottish Open action, the form which saw him sit much closer to the top than his current position of 24th.

Francesco Molinari

Sitting just off the pace of the top 10, the elder of the Molinari brothers can certainly be counted as one of the bigger names choosing to take part in this weekend’s warm-up.

Francesco Molinari’s first-day score of 69 wasn’t exactly the area that the Italian would've like to have been in when thinking of preparation for next week’s Open Championship.

However, a Day 2 card of seven-under par speaks more affectionately of the 30-year-old’s talents and shows that Molinari has perhaps settled in more comfortably to his Scottish surroundings.

Molinari was quick to inform those watching of his rise in playing power, too:

Should such a trend continue, there’s no reason why more finishes of seven- or even eight-under par are out of the question, but that Day 1 score may just hold the European back in his pursuit.

Paul Casey

A man who’s seemingly in more determined mood than ever, Paul Casey has yet to shoot over 70 at the halfway stage of this Scottish Open and is improving by the day.

Having clocked in at five-under par on Day 2, the Englishman looks to have found a better stride in Inverness and can only hope that his fortunes improve once more this weekend.

The Guardian recently reported of Casey’s struggles against injury, as well as the breakup of his marriage, alleging that the 35-year-old is more ready to win a major than ever.

Whether that be true or not, Casey’s face was once a regular one on the majors scene, telling that perhaps the talent has always been there for the Gloucestershire man, it’s just a question of his mentality.

John Parry

The leader of the chase after Day 1, John Parry is playing catch-up after seeing his tournament come slightly unravelled following Day 2.

That being said, the fact that Parry ever managed to shoot a score of 64 just illustrates the potential behind the 26-year-old, albeit not yet coming to the fore in terms of playing credentials.

Saturday’s action will tell whether Parry’s opening-round score truly was the standard at which he can consistently play or an anomaly of large proportions.