Matt Wallace is set to take a sizeable lead into the third round of the Open de Portugal after stretching his advantage at the summit of the leaderboard with a second successive superb round.
Having shot a brilliant 10-under-par opening 18 holes to lead by one shot at the end of the first round at Morgado Golf Resort, the Moor Park Golf Club professional has extended his advantage to five shots at the time of writing following a seven-under second round of 66.
The 27-year-old didn’t start his second round until late yesterday afternoon after bad weather brought a premature end to play on the first day, but he was quickly back in his birdie-making rhythm by moving to 11-under on his first hole, the par five tenth.
He picked up successive shots at the par four 12th and par five 13th and went ‘out’ in 33 after another birdie on the par five 16th.
The Pinner-based professional had moved to 16-under by the time darkness ended play last night with two more birdies on the par four first and par four third. And when Wallace resumed his round this morning, he played par golf to his last, the par four ninth, where he took his tournament record to date to 17 birdies, 19 pars and no bogeys.
Such has been the quality of Wallace's two rounds to date, he's achieved some significant scoring landmarks as the European Tour explained in these tweets:
.@mattsjwallace He becomes just the second player since 2013 to make 16+ birdies and no bogeys thru 36 holes (Other: Alex Levy)
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 13, 2017
Matt Wallace (63-66) is the first player this season to break 130 for 36 holes. #OpenDePortugal pic.twitter.com/Db3lnzJYsV
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 13, 2017
The International Sports Management player’s nearest challenger is German Sebastian Heisele on 12-under, with American Julian Suri and England’s Jamie Rutherford a shot further back.
The tournament holds shared status with the European Tour and the winner will gain an exemption on the tour until the end of 2018, as well as the lion’s share of the €500,000 prize fund, the biggest on the Challenge Tour this year.
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