Adri Arnaus retained his position at the top of the leaderboard by carding a one under par 71 to take a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the 56˚ Open de Portugal @ Morgado Golf Resort.
Following a five under par opening round of 67 – his first sub-70 score of the European Challenge Tour season – the Spaniard battled windy conditions in Portimão to sit one shot ahead of Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, Ireland’s Gary Hurley and Australia’s Dimitrios Papadatos after 36 holes.
Girrbach, who won the 2017 Swiss Challenge presented by ASG, and Australian Papadatos, who is making his first appearance in Portugal, both set the pace early on Day Two by carding rounds of 68 and 66 respectively to set the clubhouse lead at five under par.
But the pressure did not affect Arnaus as he began his second round in stunning style with two birdies in his opening three holes to quickly move to seven under par and away from the field.
A bogey on his eighth hole was soon forgotten as he began his back nine in the same way he started his first – birdie-par-birdie. A double bogey on the par four fourth looked to have shaken him but the Spaniard steadied himself and parred his final five holes to reach six under par overall.
After recording his best opening two rounds of the season, Arnaus was extremely pleased with ‘another fun day on the course’.
“I played pretty well and it was probably a little bit tougher than yesterday, as the wind came a little earlier but I’m proud of how I played,” he said.
“I started really well with two birdies in three holes and then it got tricky in the middle – my putts didn’t quite go in. At the end of the day I’m still up there so it’s good to be in this position.
“I still made some birdies but then I had a couple of errors out there, but when it is this windy that can definitely happen, so that doesn’t worry me. At the end I am really happy with how I played.
“It’s always nice to have a good chance going into the weekend, so now I need to keep doing what I’m doing and have a good weekend and see what we can do.
“It is a windy place so it will definitely be a factor to consider but at the same time it makes it more fun. You’ve got to think about the shots, think where you’re going to bounce it and calculate a lot of things, so it’s going to be a fun weekend.”
Irishman Hurley finished shortly after Arnaus and carded a three under par 69 to leave a trio of talent breathing down the Spaniard’s neck ahead of the weekend’s action.
Three shots off the lead is Englishman Jack Singh Brar who signed for the round of the day. The 21 year old finished tied second on his Challenge Tour debut in Turkey last month and showed his talent once more as he shot up the leaderboard with a blemish-free 65 – 11 shots better than his opening 76 yesterday.
