Matthieu Pavon was eager to maintain momentum after a big finish saw him keep hold of the lead heading into the weekend at the Spanish Open.

The Frenchman started 64-68 12 months ago at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid en route to a runner-up finish and has gone 63-68 this week to lead the way at 11-under.

For a long time it looked like Pavon would surrender his one-shot overnight cushion on day two but he birdied four of his last six holes to maintain that slender advantage over Dutchman Wil Besseling and India’s Shubhankar Sharma.

Home favourite Alfredo Garcia-Heredia was then at nine-under alongside Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, one shot clear of England’s Nathan Kimsey, with 11 players four shots off the lead.

Pavon is no stranger to being in contention at the right end of a leaderboard, with two wins on the Alps Tour and three second-place finishes on each of the European Challenge and DP World Tours.

This is the second time this season he has led after both 18 and 36 holes, having done the same at the Italian Open before fading away at the weekend, and he knows the importance of keeping his foot on the gas as he seeks a maiden DP World Tour win.

“I’ll just stick to my plan,” he said. “You can have a lot of opportunities out here, it’s just about staying patient and waiting for some putts to drop and then trying to catch the good momentum on the par fives.

“It looks like it’s really a place that suits my game. I have a lot of memories from last year so I really feel comfortable on the course. I see shots quickly with the yardages I’ve got.

“Today was a strange day, it could have been much better had I started stronger but it could have been worse also so I’m very pleased with the round today.

“I know that I’m putting great this week and that I would have a couple of chances on my back nine because there are two par fives.

“I just tried to stay patient and just wait for one putt to drop and that is what happened — I dropped a putt on the second for par and all of a sudden everything clicked in a little bit and I had some momentum.”

Besseling is in need of a strong finish to the season to keep his playing privileges and he sandwiched a two-putt birdie on the par-five seventh with excellent approaches into the fifth and 12th to get to double figures.

A bogey at the 16th threatened to derail his progress but he made an excellent up-and-down on the last to sign for a 68.

Sharma bogeyed the third but a sand save on the fourth and approaches inside 15 feet on the fifth and eighth saw him turn in 34.

A second bogey of the day on the tenth was followed by an excellent tee-shot on the par-three 11th and he holed from long-range on the 13th, made the most of the par-five 14th and hit a smart approach into the last in a second consecutive 66.

Main image: Matthieu Pavon. DP World Tour