England’s Benn Barham put daylight between himself and the field in the Open Mahou de Madrid at La Herreria Club de Golf by adding a four under par 67 to his opening 63 for a halfway total of 130 and a five stroke lead over a quintet of players in Spain.
Barham, chasing his second victory on the European Challenge Tour, bagged five birdies and dropped only one shot on his way to establishing a healthy lead over Jesus Maria Arruti of Spain, Johan Edfors of Sweden, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, Spaniard Carlos del Moral and Marc Warren of Scotland.
The 29 year old from Ashford in Kent showed admirable consistency, making eight birdies without a mistake in his first round, which equalled the lowest score in his professional career. In the second round, his only effort came at the 13th, which proved to be his only bogey of the tournament to date.
Barham said: “I started off okay and although the back nine is bit easier, I only shot one under, which was a a bit different from yesterday. I managed to keep the ball in play again and made a 20 ft putt for par on the 18th which was very important at the finish of a round.
“I three putted the 13th for my only bogey of the week .At the weekend I'll try to do my best again.”
Warren, from Rutherglen near Glasgow, made a forward move with an adventurous round of 68 which contained four birdies, an eagle at the eighth hole and three bogeys. Equally cavalier was Edfors, the Swede who won the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2003 before losing his card in 147th place on The European Tour last season.
Edfors racked up six birdies but dropped four shots as he tried to catch Barham at the top of the leaderboard, while the biggest move was made by Spaniard Carlos del Moral, whose seven under par 64 represented the best return of the day.
Del Moral won last Peugeot Tour Tournament in Oliva Nova,
Valencia, one week after turning profesional. The 19 year old from Valencia said: "Yesterday I played all right but I had two really bad holes, and I struggled for par.
“Today I had two bad shots and holed nice putts to save pars. I feel I'm playing intelligently, not making many mistakes. I don't think about winning, I just concentrated on my game.".
