Day two digest: Omega European Masters

Everything you need to know from day two at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.

McIlroy goes low, Green for go and the scrambling show were the order of the day on Friday at the Omega European Masters.

Here is everything you need to know from day two at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.

McIlroy makes his move

When he teed off he was eight shots off the lead. With five holes to play he was six shots off the lead. Rory McIlroy will head into the weekend in the mountains just one shot off the lead. With a stunning setting and a world class field, there are many reasons to be in Crans Montana this week, but it is hard to deny that the World Number Two is a major factor in the number of fans lining the fairways. Those fans were in raptures as he went birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the 14th and after his play-off heartbreak as a rookie here 11 years ago, the four time Major Champion could be in raptures himself come Sunday afternoon. "Hopefully two more good days of golf left in me, give myself a chance to win this tournament, which I've had a great chance to win before," he said. "I would love to add this title to the list.”

Green goes again

Just like Erik van Rooyen last week, Gavin Green has been trending in the right direction for a first European Tour title for a while. The 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit winner easily kept his playing privileges last season and has three top tens in his last seven appearances. After opening with a 65, he went one better on Friday and will head into the weekend with a one shot lead. "I'm just trying to enjoy it and play as well as I can," he said. "That's all I can ask for."

Romero rockets up the leaderboard

Andres Romero is a very patient man. There was a decade between his two European wins and now he has fired his lowest ever European Tour round 18 years after his first. The Argentinian bogeyed his second hole but did not look back after that, making eight birdies and an eagle en route to a 61 and even had a 15 footer to match Jamie Spence's 60 from 1992 - albeit on a much-changed layout. "I'm very happy with the way I played, I had a lot of confidence," he said. "I watched a video of my swing before coming here and it helped me to find my correct swing again. I think the sixth hole was very important when I made an eagle there with a two iron. After then I felt that everything was fluent and I had a lot of confidence. I'm very happy with the way things are going."

Fitz pulls a Houdini act

Matthew Fitzpatrick will need the weekend of his life if he is to make it a hat-trick of wins at Crans-sur-Sierre but even when he is having a quiet week, the mountains bring out some magic in the Englishman. Caddie Billy Foster was on the bag when Seve Ballesteros produced his now famous escape in 1993 and while Friday's not quite at that level, any more of this and he could fly up the leaderboard.

If you can't be good...........

Luke Donald lifted this trophy in 2004 for his second European Tour win and in a sparkling career he would go on to win the Race to Dubai, a World Golf Championships title and make his way to Number One in the Official World Golf Ranking. Much of that success was built on a stellar short game but we're not sure even Donald's magic hands could have hoped for this. Did he mean it? Who cares when it's this good.