Michele Thomson tears up Kenya course with 66 in amazing turnaround

Bloody golf, eh? A day after it had Michele Thomson tearing her hair out, she then produces one of the best rounds of her life. An early contender, in fact, for performance of the season on the Ladies European Tour.

In testing conditions at Vipingo Ridge on day two of the Magical Kenya Ladies Open, the Aberdonian carded a sensational bogey-free six-under-par 66, which represented a 13-shot improvement on her opening effort.

To put it in context, it was the best score of the day by no less than four shots and was also two strokes better than Swede Linnea Strom’s pace-setting score in the opening round.

"I just played really consistently today, and I putted phenomenally,” said Thomson, who opened with back-to-back birdies after starting on the 10th before adding further gains at the 14th, 16th, 17th and seventh.

"I just kind of went out with nothing to lose today because yesterday was so tough out there. It is a tough golf course and you've just got to keep your head in the game and let it happen.

“You're going to get bad bounces and I got a few of them today, but I got a few good ones as well, so that was nice.”

Thomson knows all about golf’s fickle nature, having been flying high after a first-round 65 in last year’s Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links only to have the wind taken out of her sails by an 80 the next day.

This time, though, the momentum is with the 33-year-old heading into the weekend as she chases a maiden victory, sitting just four shots behind Storm in a tie for third place in the opening event of the 2022 campaign.

"I'm happy with how things are going,” added Thomson, who is managed by Paul Lawrie. “I put the work in over the winter time and yesterday was a little bit disappointing to