Tommy Fleetwood stormed into the outright lead in the early stages of the second round at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, at the same time launching himself into pole position for the Challenge Tour Rankings Number One spot.
The prodigious young Englishman got off to a great start on day two, after starting with a four under par 67, with birdies at the second, third, fifth and sixth holes taking him to eight under for the tournament, one shot clear of Ricardo Santos and Julien Guerrier at the summit.
Fleetwood is currently second in the Rankings but a win at the season-ending tournament at San Domenico in the Puglia region of Italy would see him overtake compatriot Sam Little and continue his meteoric rise by ending the season as Challenge Tour Number One.
Santos and Guerrier were two of the four joint overnight leaders after both carding five under par opening rounds of 66, and the Portuguese started with two birdies in the opening four holes to move to seven under for the tournament while Guerrier started with back-to-back birdies to go two under through three and join Santos in tied second.
Rankings leader Little didn’t quite get off to the start he wanted, with a bogey on the difficult opening hole leaving him one over through four holes, although a birdie on the fifth took him back to level par for the day and four under for the tournament.
Chris Doak, meanwhile, increased his chances of moving from 36thin the Rankings into the all-important top 20, who receive European Tour cards for next season, as he carded four birdies on the front nine before dropping a shot each at the 10thand 11thto go six under for the day and one behind the leaders after the Scotsman’s opening level par round of 71.
