Kim Koivu remains the man to catch at the Rolex Trophy as he leads by five shots after a second round of 65, seven under par, in Geneva.
Koivu moved further ahead following his course-record ten under par round of 62 on Day One to increase his chance of claiming the historic trophy and his third victory of the season, which would see him gain automatic promotion to the European Tour.
The flying Finn, a two-time winner on the European Challenge Tour this year, started strongly on the tenth, his first hole, with a birdie before he gained two more shots on the 13thand 14th. A dropped shot on the next hole, his first blemish of the week, was forgotten as he holed three birdies around the turn.
A further bogey on his 12thhole did not stop the attacking Koivu as he increased the gap to five strokes with three gains in his final five holes.
With the wind beginning to swirl during the afternoon, the 27 year old was safely in the clubhouse and pleased with his commanding lead, especially after an impressive start to his second round.
“I hit a good drive off the tenth, which was my first hole, then I hit a good wedge to two feet and started with a birdie, which was good,” he said. “I hit a lot of good wedges, getting them close all the time. I made two bogeys, but other than that I played very, very well.
“The course played as easy as it could do today and it’s an awesome golf course to play.
“Even with a lead I will stick to the same strategy. I’m hitting my driver a lot on this golf course. There are a couple of holes where you need to be conservative off the tee, which depends on where the pin is, as you might need to lay up quite a bit and give yourself a full shot.
“I think the rain overnight will make the greens tougher because they’ve been rolling nicely, about 10.5 on the stimpmeter, I think. It will be tougher because they’ll be a few spike marks left on the surface as the greens will be softer.”
Marcel Schneider is Koivu’s closest challenger after he carded the joint low round of the day with the Finn. A seven under par round of 65, which included an eagle and seven birdies in 11 holes, saw the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf champion move up to second place. Nico Geyger and Sebastian Soderberg, who shared second place overnight, could not keep up with Koivu’s pace as they dropped back to third and 17th, respectively.
