Scott Arnold carded his second consecutive five under par round of 67 to take the clubhouse lead midway through day two of the Kazakhstan Open at Nurtau Golf Club, Almaty.
After teeing off on the tenth, the Australian flew out of the blocks with three birdies in his opening four holes, with a bogey at the 11th mixed in among the bunch, before he picked up another shot at the par three 16th to reach the turn in three under par.
He also began his second nine on a positive note with a birdie at the first before carding a two at the fifth to make it four birdies in the four par threes, moving him to 10 under par for the tournament and a shot clear of Denmark’s Jeppe Huldahl, who signed for a level par 72.
“I played lovely really,” said the Sydney native. “I have played really nicely now for the two days but I think it was better today. Yesterday I just holed a few putts but today I was a bit closer so I left a lot out there today with the putter.
“I only missed three greens in two days. I have driven the ball nicely and I have been hitting the ball relatively nicely. If I have missed the fairway it has only been first cut and that has been very rarely. Hopefully I can keep that up over the weekend.
“I found a few things on the range on Wednesday and I have put them into play and it’s worked a treat so hopefully we can keep it going and see what happens at the weekend.
“If I can put my first two rounds together into one round, there’s something really low out there for me but you just have to do the best you can and at the end of the day you hope it adds up to something good.”
Meanwhile, former Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson signed for a six under par 66 to move to within two shots of the lead on eight under par.
