European Tour

Turkish Airlines Open 2018

November 01-04

Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort, Antalya, Turkey

US$7,000,000

Live Leaderboard

November 01-04

Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort, Antalya, Turkey

US$7,000,000

Live Leaderboard

Round 2

Rose rises to the top in Turkey

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

Round 1

Round 3

Round 4

November 02, 2018

Defending champion Justin Rose will take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the Turkish Airlines Open, the sixth Rolex Series event of the season, after the World Number Two fired a second consecutive round of 65 to move to 12 under par.

- Getty Images

Rose arrived in Turkey in scintillating form, with five top tens in his last six European Tour events, but the Major winner and Olympic Gold Medallist has an elite chasing pack close behind him.

“I got off to a good start again and felt really comfortable out of the blocks today. I hit two nice iron shots to start the day into one and two, I felt comfortable from that moment on and set me up for another good day."

“I think it's iron play to be honest with you. A lot of pin placements are up on shelves, off the side of these greens are a lot of run-offs but you have wedge, nine-iron in your hand. If you get overly defensive, you're not going to make birdies, but you need to challenge some of those tough pin placements to try and shoot low around here. I think your iron play has to be on point. That's the key."

“Clearly I've been burned by this game many a time and you have to keep working hard. I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself, wake up tomorrow and go from there. Every day, I just try to build a new body of work and keep grinding.”

Tom Lewis, a winner already this season at the Portugal Masters, fired the lowest round of the week so far with a 63 to get to ten under par. He was joined in a share of second place by countryman and 2016 Masters Tournament winner Danny Willett, as well as Danish Ryder Cup star Thorbjørn Olesen, who claimed his first Rolex Series victory at the Italian Open earlier this year.

“Yesterday was just a bit of rust," said Lewis. "I had a couple of weeks off and just that sharpness left me yesterday - a bit of indecision - but today I felt more comfortable. I let my swing go a little bit more and I holed a lot of great putts. I holed a lot of long ones and missed a few short ones."

“I was having a really good time with Tommy (Fleetwood). We haven't played for a long time and Shane (Lowry), I can't shrug him off the last few weeks, we've played a lot. It's been good. We had good craic and the guys played well."

“There's loads of golf left over the next couple days and the players are playing great. I'm not going to get too far ahead of myself.”

Spaniard Adrian Otaegui stayed bogey-free through 36 holes to sit at nine under par alongside England's Sam Horsfield, Frenchman Alexander Levy and China's Li Haotong.

Reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood and Australian Jason Scrivener are a shot further back at eight under par, while the group of six players at seven under par includes two multiple Major winners in Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Martin Kaymer of Germany.