England’s Matt Baldwin will take a two-shot lead into the third round of the BMW PGA Championship after equalling the tournament record over the first two rounds at Wentworth in Surrey.
He shot 66 after his opening 65 for 13 under par, matching the halfway record set by Ireland’s Paul McGinley in 2008.
Baldwin, 38, was working as a delivery driver only three years ago and says he had been close to quitting the sport on multiple occasions.
“I had three or four months working at Amazon driving a van, just to see me through the winter before the Challenge Tour started in 2022,” said Baldwin.
“I learned a lot from that. I learned that there are other things that I could do in life, but I also learned that I really wanted to play golf.”
Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard is second on 11 under par, with France’s Antoine Rozner a shot further back.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied-fourth on nine under after adding a round of 68 to his opening-day 67.
Play was suspended for 77 minutes because of the threat of lightning earlier in the day, with Baldwin having just holed from 25 feet for par on the 16th before the siren sounded.
Baldwin played junior golf with fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who is six shots behind on seven under.
“I don’t think we ever lost. We played a lot of golf growing up, graduated the same year from Challenge Tour and obviously played a little bit out here,” said Baldwin.
“Our paths have gone slightly different but hopefully I can catch him up.”
McIlroy, meanwhile, came into the week on the back of a heartbreaking loss in the Irish Open, where he narrowly missed out on a first professional win on home soil to Rasmus Hojgaard.
“It’s really important [to play well] but also it’s nice. I wouldn’t have liked the week off to just wallow in self-pity if I hadn’t played,” said McIlroy.
“To come back out and get straight back on the golf course, and play a couple of solid rounds to give myself a chance at another really big tournament, means a lot to me, I thought it was important to do that and thankfully I have.”
