By Matt Smith
Gavin Green stormed into a three-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the D+D REAL Czech Masters after carding a nine under par 63 at Albatross Golf Resort.
The Malaysian, searching for a maiden DP World Tour victory, made a sublime start to his round as he eagled the tenth hole, his first, and then birdied the 11th, 12th and 14th to race up the leaderboard.
His fourth eagle of the week came on the first hole and birdies on the final two holes saw him finish with a 14 under par total, opening up a three-stroke lead over Richard Mansell, Thomas Pieters and Marcel Schneider in the Czech capital.
Pieters is bidding for his third win in the space of just nine months and a hat-trick of D+D REAL Czech Masters victories after claiming the title in 2015 and 2019. The Belgian added a four under par round of 68 to his opening seven under 65 to remain near the top of the leaderboard.
Mansell, who finished in a share of fourth at last week’s ISPS HANDA World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics, and Schneider, who won in the Czech Republic at last year’s Kaskáda Golf Challenge on the Challenge Tour, joined Pieters on 11 under par and the pair are both aiming to secure their first wins on the DP World Tour.
In a share of fifth on ten under par are Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer, who carded a six under round of 66, and first-round leader Louis de Jager of South Africa.
“I played solid,” said Green. “I hit good drives and kept it in play all day. Didn’t take any crazy risks and on some holes we played to the fattest part of the green, took our two putts, and on some holes we went for it. It paid off nicely.
“I went to see my coach after Barbasol or Barracuda and we did a small tweak and that has helped me and made me more consistent. It’s still a work in progress, it’s a step-by-step kind of process and I’m trying to hit good shots. If it happens it happens and hopefully the bad shots aren’t really bad. We’re just trying to keep it in play, take chances where we can and make some putts.”
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