A fine six-under-par round of 66 has moved Matt Wallace into contention for another high finish on the Challenge Tour at the Turkish Airlines Challenge.

Following his two-under opening round of 70 yesterday, the Moor Park Golf Club professional got off to a blistering start by birdying his first three holes after starting from the tenth.

The 26-year-old’s impressive ‘front’ nine continued with birdies on 15 and 18 as he went ‘out’ in a five-under-par total of 30.

Wallace’s only dropped shot came at the fifth, but he finished in style by picking up shots on eight and nine for the second round running to move to eight-under for the tournament and into a share of 11th place at the time of writing, four shots off the lead.

The Pinner-based professional, who gained his Challenge Tour card after a historic six Alps Tour victories in 2016, is aiming to continue his fine start to the year, after coming in a career-best tie for third place at last month’s Kenya Open.

It has been another difficult day for Wallace’s Moor Park club-mate Callum Shinkwin though, who is set to miss out on the final two rounds of a European Tour event for the fifth successive tournament.

He carded a second successive three-over-par score of 75 at the Shenzhen International to leave him in a share of 114th place when the second round was suspended for the day due to heavy rain and lightning in China.