Frenchman Joël Stalter carded a second consecutive round of 65 to take the clubhouse lead during the second round of the Euram Bank Open.
The 28-year-old started the day two strokes behind overnight leaders Deyen Lawson and Stanislav Matus, but quickly overturned the deficit with an eagle on the par five third hole, holing out from 112 yards.
Birdies followed on the sixth, ninth and tenth, and the Frenchman parred his way home to sign for a bogey-free 65.
“I had a great round today,” said Stalter. “I really had it going on the front nine and then on the back nine I gave myself a lot of chances, I didn’t make them but it’s still really solid. Bogey free round, you’ll always take those. The eagle was amazing. I hit my driver in the bunker then laid up and holed out from 112 yards. It was a really nice feeling.
“The pins were tucked. It was windy but I gave myself a lot of chances. I had six feet for birdie on 13, ten feet for birdie on 14. I just didn’t make those, and on 16 I lipped out. It was tough to get close to the pins, but great playing. That’s golf, you make some putts, then cool down. At the end of the day it’s a great round.”
He sits in the clubhouse two strokes ahead of Scotsman Chris Robb, who carded a six under par 64. Robb, who struck the first tee shot at last week’s season-restarting Austrian Open, birdied the first three holes and made four further gains on the back nine to move to eight under par.
“I came back in 30, but I got off to a really hot start,” said Robb. “I birdied the first three holes and then burned the edge on the next two. It was an ideal start. After the only dropped shot was the ninth and that was horrendous. I had 90 yards from the fairway and hit it in the bunker – that was an anomaly. The rest of the game was really solid today, I tried to play a little more conservatively than I did last week.”
Scott Fernandez, of Spain, carded the low round of the tournament thus far, an eight under par 62, to move to a share of fifth alongside Mateusz Gradecki of Poland, Robin Petersson of Sweden and Robin Sciot-Siegrist of France.
“I just got out there and stretched out the morning swings,” said Fernandez. “I got the right clubs today, three nice birdies at the start got me going. I dropped some shots on four and six but I didn’t let that affect me. I plugged along and kept hitting my targets and getting nice distances and finished with two nice birdies on the tough par threes on 16 and 18, which was a bonus.”
