Matias Honkala posted a five under par round of 65 after an emphatic back nine opened a two-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Euram Bank Open at Golf Club Adamstal.
The Finn carded four birdies in five holes to climb the leaderboard and reach 11 under par, two strokes clear of Englishman Jack Floydd and Blake Windred of Australia, who share second place on nine under par.
Honkala, who opened with a six under par round of 64 on day one, will be looking to build on the momentum he has gained over the first two days following a run of inconsistency prior to arriving in Austria.
“It feels great,” he said. “I’ve been feeling really good in these couple of days. I’ve been struggling all season with the tee shots and now finally I’ve hit some good iron shots today, a couple of bad ones but I made the most of the good ones.
“At the moment I am feeling it on every hole beside the par threes. I’ve been playing them safe but otherwise I pretty much feel it on every hole.
“My tee to green play has been really good and of course my putting too, which has been great.”
The weather has been on the 22-year-old’s side after two glorious days in Ramsau but he is determined to keep his consistency flowing over the weekend.
“If it gets windy, it’s going to be tricky,” he said. “We’ve had two brilliant days here, hopefully it stays like that. I’ve heard there is rain tomorrow and Sunday, but we will just have to wait and see.
“My game plan is just to hit the fairways and the greens but most of all to have fun and smile.”
Seven players share fourth place on eight under par, including German pair Yannik Paul and Hinrich Arkenau, along with Italian Federico Maccario and Welshman Stuart Manley. The cut fell at one under par, with 69 players surviving to compete over the final two rounds.
Also, during round two Stanislav Matus of Czech Republic recorded a hole-in-one on the 12th meaning that the 32-year-old posted a score of 68, the same as the first day.
The third round of the Euram Bank Open will begin at 7:00am local time, with Honkala teeing it up at 8:50am alongside Floydd and Windred.
Scores after round two:
129 M HONKALA (FIN) 64 65,
131 J FLOYDD (ENG) 63 68, B WINDRED (AUS) 66 65,
132 Y PAUL (GER) 66 66, T GANDY (IMN) 65 67, F MACCARIO (ITA) 69 63, H ARKENAU (GER) 68 64, S MANLEY (WAL) 67 65, F LACROIX (FRA) 65 67, T WIDING (SWE) 65 67,
133 M LAMPERT (GER) 64 69, D GAVINS (ENG) 68 65, E FERGUSON (SCO) 66 67,
134 V MEYER (GER) 66 68, D BOOTE (WAL) 65 69, T BALTL (AUT) 66 68, L NEMECZ (AUT) 67 67,
135 S TARRIO (ESP) 65 70, M MANASSERO (ITA) 69 66, B VIRTO (ESP) 69 66, L RUUSKA (FIN) 69 66, D RAVETTO (FRA) 65 70, C HANNA (USA) 68 67, A AHOKAS (FIN) 69 66, O BEKKER (RSA) 65 70,
136 I CANTERO GUTIERREZ (ESP) 67 69, L SCALISE (ITA) 68 68, P EDBERG (SWE) 65 71, S MATUS (CZE) 68 68, F SCHOTT (GER) 70 66, A PLANT (ENG) 68 68, P PETERSON (USA) 69 67, C HOWIE (SCO) 67 69, S TILEY (ENG) 69 67, A KORINEK (CZE) 68 68,
137 B RUSCH (SUI) 67 70, H MAGNUS (ISL) 67 70, S GROS (FRA) 67 70, G KRISTJANSSON (ISL) 65 72, M BELTRAN (ESP) 63 74,
138 N SARMINI (AM) (AUT) 70 68, C FYFE (SCO) 70 68, M ELVIRA (ESP) 70 68, N REGNER (AUT) 69 69, R GOUVEIA (POR) 71 67, M STEINLECHNER (AM) (AUT) 67 71, N MCCARTHY (ENG) 68 70, J KAHLOS (FIN) 68 70, F BERGAMASCHI (ITA) 71 67, H LONG (GER) 68 70, R VAN WEST (NED) 72 66, D FOOS (GER) 68 70, J BARES (CZE) 69 69,
139 P BAEK (DEN) 68 71, D QUINONES (USA) 71 68, J SAINZ (ESP) 70 69, N JOHANSSON (SWE) 71 68, T TETAK (AM) (SVK) 70 69, J ARNOY (NOR) 74 65, C BRAEUNIG (GER) 67 72, A JOHN (GER) 69 70, S SAAVEDRA (ARG) 69 70, F MORY (FRA) 72 67, S DEL VAL (ESP) 67 72, D MICHELUZZI (AUS) 67 72, M CALDERON (CHI) 71 68, N KRISTENSEN (DEN) 69 70, R PETERSSON (SWE) 72 67, M FENASSE (FRA) 69 70,
140 O HUNDEB?LL (DEN) 70 70, S FERNANDEZ (ESP) 70 70, H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 73 67, C BLEIER (AM) (AUT) 66 74, A HORTAL (ESP) 69 71, M WIEGELE (AUT) 69 71, A BJORNSSON (ISL) 69 71, N M?LLER (DEN) 69 71, G BRIXI (CZE) 72 68, J GIRRBACH (SUI) 72 68,
141 A KLUIBENSCHAEDL (AUT) 68 73, J YATES (IRL) 73 68, E DI NITTO (ITA) 72 69, L GALLIANO (SUI) 70 71, D BORDA (ESP) 68 73, A ZEMMER (ITA) 74 67, J MURPHY (IRL) 72 69, A WILSON (ENG) 71 70,
142 O LINDELL (FIN) 73 69, M LUNDBERG (SWE) 72 70, E ROUSAUD (ESP) 70 72, C ROSS (SCO) 66 76, B SCHMIDT (ENG) 73 69, M HIRMER (GER) 71 71, J KO (FRA) 70 72, C CANNON (ENG) 69 73, A AHOUA (FRA) 73 69,
143 J BEKIRIAN (FRA) 73 70, L LIPOLD (AUT) 72 71, M GALIANO AGUILAR (ESP) 74 69, D KEMMER (USA) 71 72, T ROSENM?LLER (GER) 74 69, J FREIBURGHAUS (SUI) 75 68, P MEJOW (GER) 70 73,
144 H WOAN (ENG) 69 75, J SCHAPER (RSA) 73 71, K ULENAERS (BEL) 71 73, R WILLIAMS (ENG) 77 67, B PETURSSON (ISL) 71 73, M GRADECKI (POL) 70 74, F MRUZEK (CZE) 73 71, D MORAGO AYRA (ESP) 75 69, S GREGORY (ENG) 66 78, ? ZACH (CZE) 70 74, A HIETALA (FIN) 70 74, B AMAT (AM) (FRA) 71 73, J CAFOUREK (CZE) 76 68,
145 L VACARISAS (ESP) 71 74, J BOLTON (ENG) 76 69, P MCBRIDE (IRL) 70 75, J K?LBING (GER) 73 72,
146 F DAUX (FRA) 71 75, J SUGRUE (IRL) 70 76, C O’ROURKE (IRL) 71 75,
147 T GOUVEIA (POR) 75 72, M GASPAR (POR) 73 74, M BREMNER (RSA) 73 74, A KOPP (AUT) 73 74, O FARRELL (ENG) 74 73, A DEL REY (ESP) 71 76,
148 H GODDARD (ENG) 75 73, A KNAPPE (GER) 74 74, R DAWSON (IRL) 75 73, L NORTHWOOD (GBR) 75 73, G TADIOTTO (BEL) 69 79,
149 S WITTMANN (AUT) 73 76, B NEUMAYER (AUT) 76 73, M ZAPLETAL (CZE) 79 70, O RATH (AUT) 74 75, J JONES (CAN) 71 78, J BLAAUW (RSA) 80 69, V PASTOR (ESP) 73 76, G BOURDY (FRA) 71 78,
150 C RAYMOND (IRL) 73 77, F SCHWEIGHOFER (AM) (AUT) 80 70,
154 N BACHEM (GER) 74 80, M MURRAY (USA) 78 76,
155 E LIPPARELLI (ITA) 80 75,
156 B KREKORIAN (USA) 77 79,
157 N NOHR MADSEN (DEN) 76 81,
158 A RODRIGUES DE BRITO AABREU (POR) 75 83,
159 J MAURER (AUT) 80 79,
168 P MACH (AM) (SVK) 85 83,
172 J VIK (CZE) 81 91,
**
OUT A ARIZABALETA (COL) 74 RT, N KIMSEY (ENG) RT ,
