I’m really enjoying myself, says Hellgren

Björn Hellgren made his move up the leaderboard after carding another sensational second round five-under-par 67 to lead the Black Mountain Invitational by Nordea.

Starting the day in tied-third position alongside Black Mountain sponsored player Pelle Edberg, Hellgren made sure his climb up the leaderboard would be swift when he got off the blocks quickly with three birdies in his opening five holes at the Black Mountain Golf Club.

After reaching the turn in 33, Hellgren made further birdies on holes 11 and 14 before dropping another shot on 15. However, he recovered well by closing with another birdie on 18 with a two-day total of 10-under-par 134.

“I’ve been hitting the ball very solid from tee to green, especially my drives. I didn’t miss too many fairways today and that’s good as you need to hit many fairways to shoot a low score on this course.

I’m sticking to my game plan and hopefully that will work out again tomorrow. But I’m playing very solid right now and putting really good too,” said Hellgren, who opened his campaign with a similar 67.

The Black Mountain Invitational by Nordea offers a prize purse of 416,000 Sek (approximately 2.08 million Baht) is part of the Nordea Tour.

The three-day event is played in a pro-am format where 28 professional golfers will be paired with three amateurs in their group.

It welcomes some of the best Scandinavian golfers to the Black Mountain Golf Club this week.

“I like the format. I had lots of fun out there with my playing partners. I tried to help them out as much as I can while focusing on my game as well. But they are two good fellas and we really enjoyed ourselves,” said Hellgren.

Nils Floren, who enjoyed an encouraging start when he took second place after a first round 66, shared similar views with Hellgren.

Despite slipping four places down to tied-sixth with a 74, the Swede still finds joy in playing alongside the amateurs.

“It’s a lot of fun. We usually play with the pros but this is great fun as we mix it up a little bit where we play with the amateurs,” said Floren.

When asked about his chances on the final day, Floren is not discounting the possibility of staging an upset.

“It’s going to be a tough call as to who will win but I definitely hope I can be the one. Players like Pelle will have the home course advantage and I’m sure some other guys will prop up from behind as well,” said Floren.