Bryce Easton produced a gutsy performance to open up a four-shot lead before darkness saw play suspended on day two of the Mallorca Golf Open.
The South African does not have full playing privileges on the European Tour but he held off a host of established names with five birdies and a bogey to get to 11 under before he was forced to walk in with one hole to play.
Home trio Jorge Campillo, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez and Alvaro Quiros completed their rounds and were at seven under alongside Dane Jeff Winther.
England’s Richard Mansell produced the lowest round of the day with a 64 in very windy conditions to sit in a group at six under which also contained countryman Laurie Canter, who carded a 66.
Easton turned in 32 with birdies on the fourth, fifth and ninth and opened up a four-shot lead with a tee-shot to 12ft on the 12th.
Par saves
His advantage was trimmed when he dropped a shot on the 14th but a birdie on the 16th moved him back to 11 under.
“Lovely day, made it look a bit more difficult for myself on the back nine, had to grind out a few par saves,” he said. “I played the front nine lovely, managed to hang in. Tough coming in at the end there. Obviously getting dark. Overall very happy with how today went, happy with where I am.”
Overnight leader Winther carded a 71, while Campillo and Quiros recorded rounds of 69 and Garcia Rodriguez signed for a 67.
Canter is in a rich run of form with two top-fives in his last three starts and revealed being pain-free is playing a big role in his improvement.
“The beginning to middle of the year I was carrying a couple of little injuries that were not going away,” he said. “I’ve started to play a little bit more pain-free so that’s meant I can do a bit more practice, a bit more work. I’ve felt my game has come on a lot as a result of that.”
It was a difficult day for the five Irish involved as none managed to shoot a below par score. Jonathan Caldwell is the best of the group sititng tied for 22nd after a round of 71 dropped him to three under for the tournament.
Cormac Sharvin shot the best Irish round of the day, a level par 70 that keeps him at one over. Elsewhere, Paul Dunne (76), Niall Kearney (71) and Gavin Moynihan (75) are all below the projected cut line after their second rounds.
Scores after round two of the Mallora Open (British unless stated, Irish in bold; Par 70):
Second round Suspended due to Darkness
133 Jorge Campillo (Spa) 64 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 64 69, Jeff Winther (Den) 62 71, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 66 67
134 Richard Mansell 70 64, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 66 68, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 64 70, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 66 68, Laurie Canter 68 66, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 67
135 Pep Angles (Spa) 65 70, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 67 68, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 65 70, Jack Senior 68 67, Robin Roussel (Fra) 68 67
136 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 68 68
137 Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 67 70, Jonathan Caldwell 66 71, Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 70, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 65 72, Andrew Johnston 66 71, Gavin Green (Mal) 68 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 66 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 70, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 66 71, Jacobo Pastor (Spa) 66 71
138 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 65 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 71, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 70, Joel Sjoeholm (Swe) 65 73, Josh Geary (Nzl) 67 71, Damien Perrier (Fra) 70 68
139 Scott Hend (Aus) 71 68, Eddie Pepperell 66 73, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 67 72, Renato Paratore (Ita) 68 71, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 72, Matthew Jordan 69 70, Connor Syme 66 73, Clement Sordet (Fra) 73 66, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 65 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 72
140 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 70, John Catlin (USA) 67 73, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 67 73, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 70 70
141 Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 70 71, Ross McGowan 70 71, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 71 70, Adria Arnaus (Spa) 71 70, Matthew Southgate 70 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 72 69, David Howell 71 70, Joel Stalter (Fra) 70 71, Cormac Sharvin 71 70, Oliver Farr 68 73, Dale Whitnell 68 73, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 71 70, Jordan Wrisdale 68 73, Zhengkai Bai (Chn) 66 75
142 Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 69 73, Richie Ramsay 69 73, Ashley Chesters 71 71, Oliver Fisher 69 73, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 72 70, Toby Tree 70 72, Lee Slattery 71 71, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 64 78, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 70 72, Niall Kearney 71 71
143 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 75, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 71 72, Jordan Smith 71 72, James Morrison 70 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 72 71, Darius van Driel (Ned) 72 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 71, Paul Dunne 67 76, Max Schmitt (Ger) 69 74, Eduardo de la Riva (Spa) 68 75
144 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 75, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 72 72, Daniel Young 71 73
145 Richard McEvoy 75 70, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 75, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 73
146 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 74 72, David Coupland 73 73, Emilio Cuartero (Spa) 73 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 76
147 Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 71 76, Matt Ford 74 73, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 74 73, Tyler Koivisto (USA) 74 73
148 Ben Evans 70 78, Samuel Del Val (Spa) 74 74
149 Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 70 79, Liam Johnston 74 75
150 Toni Ferrer (Spa) 73 77, Frank Kennedy 73 77
151 Benjamin Poke (Den) 74 77, Philip Eriksson (Swe) 75 76
152 Gavin Moynihan 77 75
156 Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 82 74, Mario Galiano (Spa) 74 82
157 Victor Miron (Spa) 77 80
