It was very much a case of Spanish delight and Irish cheer in equal measure at the Challenge de Madrid, as Juan Sarasti and Ruaidhri McGee played their way to the top of a leaderboard chocked full of home talent as well as international stars.
The leading pair are 12 under par and a shot clear of Swedish rookie Sebastian Soderberg, as both continued to impress on the testing El Encin Golf Hotel layout.
For Sarasti, a second consecutive 66 was sufficient to earn him his place at the head of affairs, despite a double bogey at the ninth, his last hole.
Eight birdies were more than enough to counter his sole blemish over the first two days, and the 26 year old is now handily placed to improve his membership category, which currently only entitles him to around 13 starts this season.
“I am playing very solid from the tee, as I’ve hit most of the fairways and most of the greens,” said Sarasti. “My strategy has been to hit it to the right part of the greens, preferably leaving an uphill putt, because if you get above the hole you are dead.
“I have played this course a couple of times and if you miss on the wrong side you have no chance of getting up and down. So my strategy will remain to keep hitting the fairways and greens, and keep finding the right part of the green.
“I hit a good tee shot on the ninth, missing the bunkers, but I was between an eight and a nine iron, and I decided to hit the longer one lower but it went left into the bunker. It went deep down inside and I tried to dig it out somewhere onto the green so I could two putt for my bogey, however I missed my second putt from one metre and made six.
“I am very happy with my round though as I do not have my Challenge Tour card yet, so I am hoping to have plenty of top tens so I can play throughout the season. I will get into 13 events, so top ten finishes will get me into more, and hopefully I can then climb up the Rankings.”
Under his own pressure to perform this week is McGee who is playing on a medical extension this week in the hope that he can earn himself a better category for the rest of the year.
If he were to claim a maiden title this week then his worries would be over, but like any golfer in his position, he is keen to not get too far ahead of himself at the half way stage.
“I started with a birdie at the first, then missed a couple on two and three, before four more in a row from there,” said the 24 year old, who has adopted a vegetarian diet since the turn of the year. “So I got to five under pretty quick, and was pretty happy with that. Then I got to the back nine and picked one up at 11, but I was a bit up and down from there and managed to finish level for the second nine, so I was happy enough.
“After yesterday I said I would take three more of the same, so I felt I had to do something similar today. I didn’t have a target, I just wanted to see what happened.
“My friend’s fiancée put me on to this diet, which not many people know, as she is a strict vegetarian so I thought I would give it a go and it’s been good so far. I’m just trying it for now, but if I look at it from a results point of view then they seem to be improving, so there might be something to it.
“I just need to do more of the same over the next two rounds, see what happens and no real targets, then we’ll just see what happens.”
Third place man Soderberg carded four birdies on day two, as well as an eagle at the par five 11th en route to a 66 as he looks to get his rookie campaign off to the perfect start in Spain, having earned his place on the second tier thanks to a top five finish in the Nordic Golf League last year.
He is a shot clear of another Spaniard going well on home turf, Nacho Elvira, who fired a 68 on Thursday to lie alongside Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal on ten under par, after he also signed for four under on day two.
German youngster Dominic Foos is a stroke further adrift after a 68 to lie alongside Frenchman Sebastien Gros, who shot 70.
Borja Virto Astudillo carded the round of the day, a 65, thanks to six birdies in a row en route to a front nine of 29 strokes. The Spaniard is in a share of eighth alongside Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo (67), Swede Jacob Glennemo (69), Elliot Saltman of Scotland (66) and Kenyan runner-up Brandon Stone (67) of South Africa.
