Knappe the king of Cordon at halfway stage

Alexander Knappe tied the course record with a scintillating 61 at Golf Blue Green de Pléneuf Val André to take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the Cordon Golf Open.

The German’s nine under par second round took him to 11 under par overall, with Aaron Rai his nearest challenger after a fine round of 65.

Knappe took a maiden European Challenge Tour title at this season’s Swiss Challenge and he arrived in Brittany on good form, with two tied-sixth finishes in his past three outings.

The 27 year old is currently ninth in the Road to Oman Rankings and showed his European Tour potential by equalling Phillip Archer’s course record from 2011, an achievement he was delighted about.

“I hit my irons good, my drives good, my putts good,” he said. “Everything was good today – the weather’s good, the views are good and it was a solid round.

“I’ve been working on my game, and I put a lot of work in lately and it’s good that it’s now paying off. I know I can play well, and I think that confidence is good, and if you have a good day you can really take advantage of it.

“The finish was great. I was going really well but then I made a stupid bogey, and I thought ‘ok, it’s still a good round, if I make one birdie in the last three it’s really good.’ I didn’t expect to birdie all three though!

“It was one of those rounds where everything just flows, and I’ve never been lower than nine under or than 61, so that’s a big day for me.

“Tying the course record is also something I’m proud of – I had another tied course record in Finland last year, so it’s cool to now have two course records on the Challenge Tour.

“I’ll approach the weekend like the other days – just go out there and play my own game and do as well as I can, the rest I can’t control.”

England’s Rai, five times a top-ten finisher on this year’s Road to Oman, made five birdies and an eagle as he seeks another good result to strengthen his spot in the top 15, where he is currently in 12^thposition.

Behind him are compatriots Steven Brown and Jordan Smith – the overnight co-leader’s second round an eventful one that included holing out for eagle on the 16th – and Scotland’s Peter Whiteford, all on eight under par.

And as Road to Oman Rankings leaderRomain Langasque highlighted the Challenge Tour’s talent on the world stageby sharing the halfway lead of the Omega European Masters on the European Tour, 18 of his compatriots made the cut, which fell at one over par.