Daniel Løkke fired a six under par second round of 66 to share the halfway lead of the Vierumӓki Finnish Challenge with Scott Henry.
The Dane arrived at Vierumӓki Resort high on confidence after coming through a play-off in last week’s Made In Denmark Qualifier on the Nordic Golf League to seal a spot in the European Tour event later in the month.
Despite indifferent form on the European Challenge Tour so far this year, Løkke was the pick of the field on the second day, which suffered an 80-minute delay when thunderstorms moved into the area.
“I’ve been really enjoying myself,” said the 27 year old. “It was an excellent round today, I played really solid and didn’t make many mistakes and I took my birdie chances so it was a good round.
“The conditions were tough. The wind was quite strong and you really have to hit solid golf shots to make a good score – it’s a tough course and this morning was even tougher.
“I haven’t really been in contention this year on the Challenge Tour. I had a break during the summer for three weeks and then played on the Nordic League last week and won that event, so I’m starting to feel the form is coming.
“It was a Made In Denmark qualifier and I won that in a play-off, so I’m excited to play the Made In Denmark in two weeks now.
“I’m feeling in good form, now I just want to get the ball in the hole in the fewest shots possible over the weekend – I played some good golf for the last two weeks now so I just want to keep it going.
“Remembering that winning feeling will definitely help me. I wouldn’t say I had a bad season before but I wasn’t playing well enough to get in contention, so it’s starting to get there now.”
Henry started the day just one shot behind overnight leader Jérôme Lando Casanova but two early bogeys pushed the Scot down the leaderboard before six birdies in his last ten holes saw him match Løkke’s overall score of nine under par.
Lando Casanova could only manage a one under par round of 71 and sits one shot back alongside Scott Fernandez, William Harrold, Bjorn Hellgren, Niklas Lemke and Sam Walker.
One further back on seven under is the leading Finn, Tapio Pulkkanen, with 67 players making it through to the weekend after the cut fell at two under par.
