Matt Wallace added a second round 65 to his opening 66 to take a share of the halfway lead in the Mexico Open.
The Englishman played his last nine holes in 30, including an eagle three at the sixth hole in between a pair of birdies, as he moved to 11-under-par.
“I think there’s been a bit of rain this last week and it’s played really soft compared to years gone by, so it was playing a bit different,” said Wallace.
“But it’s relatively easy on the eye, everything you can see out there, you know certain positions to miss and not to miss. I think it’s just a ball-striker’s golf course. You obviously need to putt well every single week, but ball-striker’s golf course where if you’re hitting fairways and greens, you’ve not going to be giving shots away and you can make a bunch of birdies.
“My iron play is great, putting was really nice. I managed my game at the end there really well. Didn’t drive it amazing for the middle part but the tough holes, you know, 4 I hit a great driver, 4-iron to nine feet and missed that. But took a lot of positives from those two shots into the last five holes, which I
managed to play really nicely. So good focus, good determination and yeah, happy with the score.”
He is joined by Finland’s Sami Välimäki, who shot 67, American Jake Knapp and Mexico’s Alvaro Ortiz, who both carded a 64.
They are one shot ahead of the first-round leader Erik van Rooyen from South Africa, who added a 69 to his opening 63 thanks to a pair of late birdies.
There is then a two-shot gap back to American duo Andrew Novak and Mark Hubbard with defending champion Tony Finau among an 18-strong group five strokes off the pace.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre moved to five-under-par with a 66, one ahead of England’s Aaron Rai and Irish veteran Padraig Harrington.
