Sweden’s Fredrik Lindgren continued the early season form enjoyed by last year’s Challenge Tour graduates by taking the halfway lead in the Turespana Masters - Open Andalucia at Parador Malaga del Golf.
Lindgren, who returned to the main Tour by finishing eighth on the Challenge Tour last season, shot a second round of 66 to move to 11 under par, a shot clear of compatriot Per-Ulrik Johansson, Scotland’s Gary Orr and Englishmen Ian Garbutt and Roger Winchester, another Challenge Tour graduate.
With last week’s winner Van Phillips coming through the Challenge Tour in 1996 and the runner-up John Bickerton also earning his place on the main Tour through the Challenge Tour last season, graduates are clearly enjoying a purple patch at this stage of the season.
Lindgren’s round included six birdies, an eagle and only two dropped shots. "I’ve been playing all right this season but not this well," he said. "Today I hit most of the greens and just tried to stay out of trouble."
Two shots adrift is a group of players including the defending champion and a shot further back is fellow Spaniard Ignacio Garrido who rediscovered the form that carried him into the 1997 Ryder Cup team to shoot a course record 63, nine under par.
The halfway cut fell at three-under-par.
