Villegas charges up the leaderboard

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Camilo Villegas has surged up the leaderboard after taming the back nine in his second round at Royal Birkdale.

Despite a bogey-bogey start, the Colombian, who’s nicknamed Spider-Man for his unusual posture when reading greens, followed up his opening round of 76 with a -1 par 33 on the outward half, before ripping up the back nine.

He finished with five consecutive birdies from the 14th, including hitting the pin with a 176 yard pitching wedge out of thick rough before rolling in a 25ft birdie putt on the final hole for a stunning 65.

The 26-year-old now stands on +1 for the tournament and is sure to be among the late starters on Saturday afternoon as he bids to become the first Colombian to win a Major championship.

After he finished he revelealed he’d played a practise round with golfing legend and leader Greg Norman on Tuesday.

“I played unbelievably,” he said. “I got off to a bad start but kept my composure. I’m very excited to be right in it.”

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