Jhared Hack carded a bogey-free six under par round of 66 to maintain his four-stroke lead at Golf Nazionale through two rounds of the Italian Challenge Open.
The American, making his third start on the HotelPlanner Tour, picked up where he left off on Thursday to reach 16 under par for the week, four shots ahead of Englishman Chris Wood, who had earlier set the clubhouse lead following an eight under par round of 64.
Hack came into the week knowing a top ten would see him through to next week’s Challenge de Catalunya on the Road to Mallorca but can now start to dream of the winners’ exemption that would come with a victory.
“I hung in there today,” Hack said. “I’m proud of myself for staying patient, sticking to my goals, and keeping it pretty stress free.”
“I hit a great shot into 17 that was playing 213 yards today, hit a good five iron to four feet, and hit a really nice shot into 18 too.”
“It’s always great when you can make five birdies in a row.”
Starting on the back nine, Hack registered his first birdie on the par three 12th, but caught fire around the turn, with a birdie on the 16th kickstarting a run of five consecutive gains.
The pick of the bunch came at the par five 18th, Hack capping off his opening nine by sending a towering fairway wood to ten feet, leaving the simplest of birdies after the eagle putt slid by.
The American was most pleased however to have kept the blemishes off the card over Thursday and Friday.
“It’s good to be bogey-free through 36 holes,” he added “My goal for this week was to stay below the hole, stay patient, and kind of plot my way around.
“I told my friends back home that this was a good course for my game so I’m just going to continue to do what I’ve been doing.
“Keep giving myself chances, don’t take birdie away off the tee, and go have fun. This is why we practice, to be in a spot like this.”
Wood had the outright lead after the morning wave, an eight under 64 meaning he will enter his first weekend back on the HotelPlanner Tour at 12 under par.
Wood will be hoping to put the pressure on Hack, with the pair in the final group in tomorrow’s third round alongside England’s Barclay Brown, but the former BMW PGA Championship winner isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“It was nice to give myself a lot of chances today, but I’ve got a long road ahead of me to get back to where I want to be playing, and how I want to be playing,” he said.
Brown sits in a tie for third alongside Scotsman Will Porter on 11 under par, one stroke ahead of American Nick Carlson and Englishman Alfie Plant, who share fifth position.
Italian Alessandro Nodari, Englishman Will Enefer, Frenchman Pierre Pineau, Portuguese Tomas Gouveia and Hamish Brown from Denmark all sit on nine under par and seven shots adrift of the lead.
The third round of the Italian Challenge Open gets under way on Saturday at 08:00am local time, with Hack teeing off alongside Wood and Brown at 12:15pm.
