Bernd Wiesberger carded a second-round 65 and will enter the weekend at the Made in HimmerLand with a two-shot lead.
The 35-year-old Austrian, who started from tee No. 10 on Friday, came blazing out of the gate on day two in Denmark, making birdies on Nos. 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 to turn in 5 under 30. He added another birdie on No. 1 to reach 6 under through 10 holes but played his final eight holes to even par, offsetting a bogey with a birdie to settle on 11 under par for tournament.
“I felt decent,” said Wiseberger, who is defending his 2019 title this week.
“Bit disappointed with the finish today, felt like I could have gone a few deeper actually but my game was good and I’m happy with round two.
“I’m feeling good and hopefully ready for as good a weekend as the first two days.
“It’s Friday morning, just push on, push forward and hit good, decisive golf shots. Especially the way I played the front nine, which was my back nine today, I felt like there were a lot of chances coming up and I really tried to push forward and give myself a lot of looks.
“I didn’t do it quite as well as yesterday but it was good enough for a decent round today.”
Wiesberger was two clear of compatriot Matthias Schwab, who produced a 66, highlighted by a par save on the final hole.
“I had the rights going with my driver on the back nine and I guess I just tried to over-correct it with that tee shot and it went way left,” he said of his play on the 18th.
“I was blocked pretty much any direction except for the one going on the second hole, I didn’t even see the option, my caddie kind of discovered it and he paced off how far I could go. Hit a wedge up there and then 85 metres he paced it off again. He did some great work on this hole and it was nice to sink that putt.
“I made some nice putts, especially the one on the last. It is always nice to finish on a high so I hope I can take that into tomorrow.
“The start of the season has been good, some really solid top-ten finishes, I have made every cut so far this year, which is something to be a little bit proud of so things are going okay.
“I think it will be nice to play with Bernd, it has been a while since we played together. I know him quite well, he knows me quite well, so it will be a fun round.”
Swede Alexander Bjork was 8 under after a low-round 63, which included a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th.
2021 Made In HimmerLand
Top-5 Leaders: Round 2
Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 2)
1. Bernd Wiesberger -11 (-6)
2. Matthias Schwab -9 (-5)
3. Alexander Bjork -8 (-8)
4. Pablo Larrazabal -7 (-2)
4. Richard Bland -7 (-2)
4. Stephen Gallacher -7 (-7)
4. Josh Geary -7 (-5)
4. Masahiro Kawamura -7 (-4)
Material from the European Tour Communications was used to compile this report.
