Matt Wallace carded the lowest round of the week to take total control and open up a four-shot lead at the Omega European Masters.
The Englishman endured the worst of the weather conditions on Thursday, but still managed to get through with a blemish-free 64 to sit one adrift of leading duo Alex Fitzpatrick and Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia.
In warmer and more favourable conditions on Friday at Crans Montana, Wallace enjoyed five birdies during a front nine of 30 before adding another hat-trick of gains to reach the halfway point at 14 under par following a brilliant second round of 62.
He is the only player in the field yet to drop a single shot through 36 holes as he targets his first DP World Tour title in six years, with Fitzpatrick proving to be his closest rival at 10 under.
“I’m swinging it nice, hitting it good and hopefully carry that on into the weekend. It’s going to sound crazy, but I missed a few chances, I really did,” Wallace said. “The putter didn’t really let me down, but I tried to be aggressive with the wedges, didn’t really pull it off and then I was grinding in those areas.
“But that one on 16 was my hole of the day really because playing those par fives pretty good and missing that putt for eagle, but that par three was really special – it was a great iron shot into the perfect spot and then the perfect putt so a lot of confidence taken from that.
“It is a golf competition at the end of the day and I love getting into competition, but I want to get away from the competition as much as possible so playing like that today helps and go again tomorrow.”
Wallace battled the elements of the Swiss Alps during his opening round but it was a different story on Friday as sunshine lit up Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
It was not long before the 34-year-old started sparkling with his wedges as he kicked off a run of four straight birdies from the 4th by delightfully holing out his third shot from 22 yards.
Another chip-in followed at the next when he found the greenside bunker with his second shot, only to find the bottom of the cup with his third shot to climb to eight under.
The momentum did not stop there as Wallace dialled in to seven feet to complete a hat-trick of birdies from seven feet at the 6th.
He found the green with his tee shot at the par-four 7th and when he tapped in his second putt, he was the joint leader with Fitzpatrick at 10 under.
However, he was the sole leader when the Englishman stuck his approach to three feet to card the fifth gain of the front nine and reach the turn in 30.
The back nine proved to be more of grind for Wallace and he parred his way home until he reached the back-to-back par fives from the 14th.
He hit another beautiful approach to four feet and although he missed the eagle effort, he increased his lead to two shots.
The world No 91 laid up at the next, but almost holed out with his third stroke. The second bounce landed on the inside of the cup’s lip to jam against the pin before popping out, leading to another tap-in birdie.
Wallace completed another treble of gains from 14 feet at the 16th to sit at 14 under before a par-par finish saw him register a bogey-free 62 for Friday.
Fitzpatrick, who began his second round on the back nine, was among the early starters and made his move at the par-three 13th.
He stuck his tee shot to 10 feet to get in the red numbers for the day before finding the green in two at the par-five 14th for back-to-back birdies.
The 25-year-old dropped his only shot of the tournament so far at the 16th after tee shot trouble to slip back to eight under.
Fitzpatrick had to wait until his penultimate hole – the 8th – to create another opportunity, which he took when draining a 14 foot birdie putt.
He backed that up at the 9th by chipping to within three feet to become the clubhouse leader at 10 under before Wallace surged to the summit.
Another Englishman was in contention with Jordan Smith recording a second-round 65 to sit alongside Sweden’s Henrik Norlander at nine under.
Andrew Johnston, Garcia-Heredia and German Nicolai von Dellingshausen were one shot further back, while Eddie Pepperell and Australia’s Jason Scrivener are at seven under.
Casey Jarvis was the best-placed South African on six under (T10) after a bogey-free round of 64 that included six birdies.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
