A fine five-under-par second round of 66 has moved Matt Wallace into contention towards the top of the leaderboard at the Barclays Kenya Open.

Having opened the first Challenge Tour event of the season with a round of 68 yesterday, a superb finish of three birdies in his closing four holes has left the Moor Park Golf Club professional in fourth place and within three shots of the lead on eight-under-par at the time of writing.

Having started the day on three-under, the 26-year-old picked up his first birdie with a four on the par five fifth.

Wallace reached the turn at one-under for his round after an up-and-down sequence of bogey, birdie, birdie, bogey from holes six to nine, but then picked up his fourth birdie of today at the par five tenth to move to five-under for the tournament.

But it was holes 15 to 18 that proved particularly rewarding for the Pinner-based player as he finished birdie, par, birdie, birdie to leave himself very usefully placed going into the weekend’s play at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi.

Wallace secured his place on Europe’s second-tier tour by winning last year’s Alps Tour Order of Merit with a historic six tournament victories, and his best Challenge Tour result to date was a tie for fourth at the Terre dei Consoli Open in October.