Dan Brown posted a bogey-free nine under par round of 62 to take the lead at the halfway stage of the Indoor Golf Group Challenge at Allerum Golfklubb.
The Englishman made the turn at five under before adding four further birdies coming in to reach 13 under par, one clear of Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg who matched Brown’s nine under effort to sit second on 12 under.
The 27-year-old has been trending in the right direction of late, finishing in a tie for sixth at last week’s Dormy Open, and is feeling confident after securing the first 36-hole lead of his European Challenge Tour career.
“Last week was decent preparation,” he said. “I got myself up there coming down the stretch last week. You learn a bit about yourself and hopefully I can carry on playing the way I’ve been playing and there’s no need to putt added pressure on myself.
“I think there was a couple of shots that crept in last week where I felt a bit of pressure when I saw my name at the top of the leaderboard, so I think it’s managing that. I feel pretty confident that I can improve on last week’s result.
“I’ve been trending really, for the last three weeks. The first few months of the season, I had a couple of decent results in there but I missed a few cuts by one or two, but I’ve been there or thereabouts, it’s not been far away. I’ve been driving it a lot better and holing a few more putts.”
The EuroPro Tour graduate credited his mid-range putting for posting the joint-low round of the week in Helsingborg.
“A few putts dropped today,” he said. “I holed a lot of medium range between 12 and 25 feet so they’re those ones that you don’t expect to drop in. You fancy them a lot of the time but a few of them dropped today so it was nice.
“Because it’s firm, it’s playing a lot shorter than what it usually would do. You’ve got a lot of wedges in so it’s very much putting. I’ve been very aggressive off the tee as well so I’ve probably had a few more wedges in than what some of the other guys have. I’ve been driving it well so I’ve tried to take advantage of that.”
Lindberg, who also finished inside the top ten at last week’s Dormy Open, is one stroke clear of England’s Jonathan Thomson and Frenchman Clément Sordet, who share third place on 11 under par. Denmark’s Nicolai Tinning and German Velten Meyer are a shot further back in a tie for fifth on ten under par.
The cut fell at four under par, with 69 players surviving to compete over the weekend. The third round of the Indoor Golf Group Challenge will begin at 8:10am local time with Brown, Lindberg and Thomson comprising the final group at 10:01am.
