A trio of eagles, including a hole in one on the fourth hole, were the highlights of an eventful round for Moritz Lampert on the second day of the Azerbaijan Golf Challenge Open.
By his own admission the in-form German, who would gain automatic promotion to The European Tour with a third victory of the season this week, rode his luck at The National Azerbaijan Golf Club, but the outcome was a round of 65 and a seven under par aggregate total at the midway stage of the €300,000 event.
Lampert, who is attached to Golf Club St Leon-Rot, started his round on the tenth tee, and swiftly charged up the leaderboard after holing out from 100 yards with his sand wedge on the 12th hole.
Two birdies followed on the 15th and 17th holes, before a second eagle of the day on the par five second moved the 22 year old to six under par for his round.
The best was yet to come on the fourth hole, however, as he struck an eight iron straight into the cup for a ‘slam dunk’ ace.
Remarkably, it was the second time Lampert had aced the hole this week, having previously done so in practice.
Lampert, who is currently third in the Challenge Tour Rankings, said: “I used a nine iron in practice, but today I thought the wind was a little bit stronger so I took one more club.
“As soon as I hit it the wind seemed to disappear, so I thought it would go long but luckily it landed straight in the hole. It’s my first hole in one in a tournament, so it was a very special moment for me.
“You’ve got to hit a good shot but there’s also a bit of luck involved, so I just hope I haven’t used it all up already!”
Lampert is currently four shots behind the halfway leader Ben Evans, but having already won earlier in the season in Austria and Spain – where he went into the weekend six strokes adrift of the lead – he will quietly fancy his chances of chasing the Englishman down in Quba.
Pos | ![]() | Player name | ![]() | Nat | ![]() | Hole | ![]() | Par | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | LAMPERT, Moritz | ![]() | GER | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -16 | ||
2 | ![]() | LORENZO-VERA, Michael | ![]() | FRA | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -14 | ||
T3 | ![]() | BROWN, Steven | ![]() | ENG | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -13 | ||
T3 | ![]() | JOHNSTON, Andrew | ![]() | ENG | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -13 | ||
T5 | ![]() | MARSHALL, Andrew | ![]() | ENG | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -12 | ||
T5 | ![]() | BJÖRK, Alexander | ![]() | SWE | ![]() | 18 | ![]() | -12 |