CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT AND SCORES

    
LASSE LEADS BY ONE IN SWITZERLAND
 
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Overnight leader Lasse Jensen followed up his scintillating form of day one with a slightly more considered round on Thursday, carding a two under par 70 to lead at the halfway stage of the Rolex Trophy at Geneva, Switzerland.
The Dane went bogey free for his first 18 holes en route to a round of 61, and despite dropping a first stroke of the week at the par four sixth on day two, he countered that with red figures at the second, 13th and 16th holes to lead by one at 13 under par from South Korea’s Byeong-hun An at Golf Club de Genève.
Jensen has never won on the European Challenge Tour, but did finish second to South Africa’s Jake Roos at the Barclays Kenya Open in the opening event of this season, which matched his best result on the second tier at the same event in 2012.
He therefore remains ideally placed to pick up a maiden piece of silverware in Geneva through 36 holes, seemingly buoyed by an impressive European Tour showing on home soil last week, where he finished in a tie for seventh at Made in Denmark.
“I feel fairly neutral about my round,” said Jensen, who hails from Copenhagen. “I really tried to play my best but all the margins I got yesterday, I think I got the opposite today, as sometimes the ball took a bad break or bounced in the wrong direction.
"I felt like it was harder today, so to shoot two under and still move forward, I am actually quite happy with that. It was quite difficult to start out, so I tried to be calm.
"It is difficult when you have had a round like I did yesterday, every putt just dropped, and today they didn’t. You just have to focus on your next shot and then hopefully tomorrow, I can erase the past two days and then start over again.”
An started the day two strokes adrift of the leading Jensen, and his three under par 69  saw him halve that deficit, as he also looks for a first Challenge Tour triumph.
The Florida-based South Korean had a roller coaster opening round that saw him card a mere five pars, but on day two his play was a little more consistent.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
131 L Jensen (Den) 61 70
132 B An (SKor) 63 69
134 M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 64 70
135 C Bouniol (Fra) 67 68, A Johnston (Eng) 66 69, F Fritsch  (Ger) 68 67, D Ulrich (Sui) 67 68, B Hebert  (Fra) 67 68
136 S Hutsby  (Eng) 65 71, J Roos (RSA) 68 68
137 M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 69 68, M Tullo (Chi) 69 68, P Relecom  (Bel) 69 68
138 A Bernadet  (Fra) 68 70, C Shinkwin (Eng) 69 69, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 69, A Marshall (Eng) 71 67, S Brown (Eng) 68 70, E Espana (Fra) 67 71
139 T Linard (Fra) 71 68, R Coles (Eng) 70 69, B Åkesson (Swe) 68 71, C Arendell (USA) 72 67, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 68 71, L Gagli  (Ita) 70 69, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 69 70
140 J Barnes (Eng) 70 70
141 P Widegren  (Swe) 71 70, A Hortal  (Esp) 68 73, W Harrold (Eng) 70 71, D Gaunt (Eng) 70 71
142 D Coupland (Eng) 71 71, J Huldahl (Den) 71 71
143 C Aguilar  (Esp) 74 69, J Palmer (Eng) 74 69,
144 A McArthur  (Sco) 70 74, O Farr (Wal) 72 72, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 71 73
145 J Fahrbring (Swe) 70 75, M Delpodio  (Ita) 70 75,
146 N Quintarelli (Ita) 76 70, A Tadini (Ita) 71 75, S Henry  (Sco) 69 77
148 P Oriol (Esp) 75 73
 

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