A second round of four under par 68 saw Scotland’s Marc Warren maintain his two stroke lead at the top of the Rolex Trophy leaderboard, leaving the 24 year old on 12 under par 132 and leading Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey and the Swede Steven Jepessen, who posted scores of 68 and 67 to share second place going into the weekend at the Golf Club de Genève.
Warren is bursting with confidence following his maiden professional victory at the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge three weeks ago, and is confident that he can pick up a second Challenge Tour title if he can reach his target score of 20 under par come Sunday afternoon.
He certainly looks like a player brimming with self belief, and he kept his cool to maintain his advantage at the head of the field, putting together six birdies, ten pars and two bogeys en route to a 68.
“I think my win in Ireland has definitely helped my confidence,” said Warren. “I know that if I play well I can win now and that makes you approach tournaments more relaxed.
“I felt that yesterday when I was only two under after the front nine and knew that the scoring was going to be low. Before I won in Ireland I might have started to worry abut what the other guys round about me where doing, but now I just stay patient and get on my with my own game because I know that the birdie chances are going to come.
“If I can get to 20 under then I think I will be hard to beat come Sunday. That is the target that I have set myself, so the sooner I get there the better.”
Johan Edfors of Sweden – the 2003 Challenge Tour Number One – made the most significant move of the day with a sparkling round of seven under par 65 that took him 28th to a tie for fourth place alongside Welshman Kyron Sullivan on nine under 135.
Edfors also won the Rolex Trophy’s long driving competition with a monstrous 385 yard effort after the second round, and is hoping that he can continue his rich vein of form going into the final two rounds in Switzerland.
“I have been playing well for the last four or five weeks,” said Edfors. “My iron play has really improved a lot recently and that is always going to give you more chances at making birdies which I managed to do today. Another 65 tomorrow will put me right up there and if I do that I will be in with a great chance to win on Sunday.”
The Argentine pair of Sebastien Fernandez and Daniel Vancsik joined the USA’s Brad Sutterfield one shot behind Edfors and Sullivan, with Englishmen James Heath and Denny Lucas a further shot back.
