Jeong weon Ko climbed into the lead on the second day of the B-NL Challenge Trophy by Hulencourt and will take a one-stroke advantage into the weekend in Belgium.
The Frenchman posted a five under round of 65 to move to 12 under par and one clear of countryman Robin Sciot-Siegrist, who carded a seven under par round of 65 and sits in second place at the end of another low scoring day at Hulencourt.
The 24-year-old has been in impressive form with two top tens in his last four European Challenge Tour starts, and he is now targeting a surge into the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca Rankings with another strong performance this week.
“I’m happy with my round today,” he said. “I’ve been playing really well recently and apart from missing some short birdie putts I thought my game was good overall.
“I took a week off last week and I’m feeling really fresh for it. It’s been a solid two days and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Ko has made only one bogey during his first 36 holes and is pleased with his attempts in keeping blemishes off the card, which he believes is not easy to do when the wind picks up.
“The fairways are wide this week so you have some leeway with the driver,” he said. “It can become difficult when the wind picks up and you have to focus on keeping bogeys off the card. You must adapt your game to hit different shots under the wind and I think I’ve done a good job of that so far.”
Australian Jordan Zunic posted a seven under par 65 to move into third place alongside Italian Federico Maccario, Swede Simon Forsström, Portugal’s Tomás Bessa and German duo Alexandre Knappe and Dominic Foos on ten under.
Ten players share ninth position on nine under, including Denmark’s Martin Simonsen and overnight leader Clément Sordet.
