Andrea Perrino set the pace in the clubhouse midway through the second day of the Credit Suisse Challenge in Switzerland after a five under par round of 66 moved him to seven under for the tournament, two shots behind leader on the course Joachim B Hansen.
The Italian recovered from a bogey start on the ninth hole, his first, to card four birdies on the 10th, 14th, 16th and 17th before three birdies and two bogeys on the way home moved him into outright second place with the afternoon starters out on the course.
Perrino holds an impressive record of missing just one cut in his last nine tournaments and he is feeling confident going into the weekend’s play.
“I've been playing really well this week,” said the 28 year old. “I've been hitting all the fairways and giving myself chances. Yesterday the putter didn’t work so well but I'm over that now and I'm up there near the top so it’s good.
“I bogeyed the ninth stupidly from the middle of the fairway but I was confident that my game was good so I just kept going for the pins and trying to make birdies.
“It’s always nice to be near the top of the leaderboard so I'm just going to chill out with my wife now and have lunch and practice a bit in the afternoon.”
Gary Stal, who has won already this year in his first season on the Challenge Tour, was one of the players a shot further back on six under par after he carded a four under par 67.
“My round was good today,” said the Kärnten Golf Open presented by Mazda champion. “I’m putting well at the moment and that was the key today.
“I like the course, it’s good for my game. My driving is usually good, not great at the moment but it’s not a big problem. I will just play my game this weekend and see how it goes."
He was joined by Spaniard Agustin Domingo, who replicated his opening round of 68 on the second day, despite a double bogey on the par four 11th, which came after a superb four under par front nine, as a birdie on the 18th hole moved him to within three shots of the lead.
Overnight leader Hansen was showing no sign of nerves after a stunning opening round of 62 put him four shots clear of the chasing pack going into the second day on nine under par, as he started his second round steadily with four consecutive pars.
