Justin Rose produced a late fightback to share the lead with Antoine Rozner heading into the weekend at the Betfred British Masters.
The Englishman entered day two at The Belfry with a one-shot lead and still held that when he teed off in the afternoon, with Frenchman Rozner having set the target at six under with a 68.
But he would soon find himself three off the lead after four bogeys in his first 10 holes, before he picked up three shots in his last seven in a 73 to rejoin Rozner at the summit.
English amateur John Gough was then at five under alongside countrymen James Morrison, Andy Sullivan and Oliver Wilson, defending champion Thorbjørn Olesen, another Dane in Niklas Nørgaard and German Yannik Paul.
Wilco Nienaber and Justin Walters are the best-placed South Africans (T13) after rounds of 71 and 70 respectively took them to three under.
Hennie du Plessis, Bryce Easton, Deon Germishuys, Thriston Lawrence and Ockie Strydom are all a further two shots behind.
Rose claimed the second of his 11 DP World Tour wins at this event back in 2002 and since then has achieved almost everything there is to in the game, winning the 2013 US Open along with Olympic gold, World Golf Championships, Rolex Series events and topping the rankings on both sides of the Atlantic en route to being a world No 1.
On a wet and windy day, however, The Belfry can be a test for anyone and Rose was delighted to use all his experience after his poor start on day two.
“If I had gone and shot 76 today, I’d have walked off and been quite bewildered because I did not play that badly but the score had slipped away from me after 10 holes and that is what it is,” he said. “The scorecard doesn’t lie at the end of the day.
“You count on those par-fives on the back nine a little bit, 15 and 17, to try to give you some opportunities. But they are certainly no gimmie birdies, either.
“So I’m sticking with it and readjusted my goals. Actually set myself a goal for the last seven holes to be three under par and that’s what it turned out to be.
“Didn’t appreciate that I would still be leading the golf tournament but through 36 holes I’m in a great spot.”
Rozner is enjoying yet another impressive season on the DP World Tour since his 2019 graduation from the European Challenge Tour which was achieved with the help of two wins in as many weeks in Spain and the Czech Republic.
Since then he has finished in the top 50 on the rankings every season, claiming three wins – including the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December – and he has three other top 10s and just two missed cuts from 15 starts this campaign.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty solid for the most part,” he said. “Putting has been good even though the past few weeks was a bit not as good.
“But I think my whole game is good. I don’t have any weakness in my game, so I think that helps me just being very consistent week-after-week.
“It’s a course where I’ve never really played well. So just to be able to get out and produce some solid golf, I was really happy with that in the first place. Today, I caught a few putt drops, so that’s good. I’m right where I need to be, so really happy with my game so far.”
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
