Joost Luiten of the Netherlands shot a 4-under 68 Friday to take a one-stroke lead into the third round of the EPGA Tour’s Lyoness Open.
Luiten holed three birdies on both the front and back nine, offset by two bogeys, to sit at 11-under 133. He is one shot in front of Paul Waring of England (67), Callum Macaulay of Scotland (66) and Eduardo de la Riva of Spain (69).
“I played well, I hit the ball well,” said Luiten, adding he wasn’t fully satisfied with his game. “I didn’t make as many long putts as yesterday.”
Luiten trailed Tom Lewis by two strokes overnight but the Englishman made five bogeys in shooting a 74.
Former winners Markus Brier of Austria (2006), Richard Green of Australia (2007) and Jose Manuel Lara of Spain (2010) all missed the cut.
Hennie Otto of South Africa hit a 65 to climb to fifth place, three shots off the pace, and was later joined by Romain Wattel of France who had a 68.
Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger, at 61st the highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 71 and dropped to 17th at 5 under.
“The first 11 holes I played pretty well,” said the Austrian, who likely needs a top-10 finish to qualify for next week’s US Open. “I got a bit frustrated after the bogey on the 14th.”
Wiesberger added a double bogey on the par-three 15th but improved his score with two birdies on the final three holes.