Marcel Schneider showed no signs of slowing down on Day Two at the Swiss Challenge presented by Association Suisse de Golf as he increased his lead to three shots.
The German, who made nine birdies in the opening round, went bogey-free around Golf Sempachersee and signed for a seven under par 64.
His two-day total of 15 under par, 127, is lowest 36-hole score on the European Challenge Tour in 2018, and stands as the fifth lowest halfway return in Tour history.
The 28 year old has found the short grass on nearly every hole at the scenic Swiss course, and believes his performance has been close to flawless thus far.
“I’m playing really well as you can tell,” said Schneider. “I made just one mistake yesterday on the 18th, but other than that, the rest of the tournament has been without any mistakes, so I’m quite happy with that.”
“I hit it really good off the tee, so I haven’t been in trouble. I think that’s a huge benefit because the rough is quite thick.”
It is a common claim that one of the hardest things to do in golf is to back up a low round with another quality score. After succeeding in that feat, the Bietigheim – Bissingen native believes he is ready for the challenge of the next two days.
“Normally I’m the type of guy who shoots really low and then the next day I struggle to do the same or almost the same, but now I’m really, really happy and confident for the weekend,” he said.
Norway’s Kristian Krogh Johannessen made six birdies, one eagle and no bogeys in the morning wave of tee times to catapult himself into second place on 12 under par. Johannessen’s 63 was matched in the afternoon by Finland’s Kim Koivu as the lowest round on Day Two. The eight under par score equalled Schneider’s Day One total as the best 18-hole score of the tournament.
Marc Dobias leads the 17 players from Switzerland through the first two rounds after carding back-to-back under par scores of 69-70 for a share of 35thplace. In all, four Swiss men, including defending champion Joel Girrbach and amateur Neal Woernhard, survived the cut and will play the weekend at the Swiss Challenge presented by ASG.
Play was suspended, at 5:26 pm local time, for the second consecutive day as thunderstorms moved in from the nearby mountains, but Day Two was successfully completed after play resumed at 7:30 pm.
The third round is slated to begin Saturday morning at 8:35 am, with the leaders teeing off at 12:30 pm.
