Flying Dutchman Van Driel leads by two at 

Slovakia Challenge

Day two report

Darius van Driel finished his second round at the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge in the same way it began- at the top of the leaderboard.

The Dutchman, who opened with six consecutive birdies on day one, again started hot, carding an eagle and two birdies in his first six holes at Penati Golf Resort en route to a three under par round of 69.

The 2018 Euram Bank Open champion will start the weekend with a two-shot advantage over a trio of players—Spaniards Ivan Cantero Gutierrez and Scott Fernandez, as well as Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen, who sit on nine under par.

‘’Today was only a three under par compared to my 64 yesterday, but overall I’m pretty happy,’’ van Driel said. ‘’Afternoon rounds on soft greens are always a little bit harder and the pins were tucked a little bit away and close to the plateaus, so the scoring was definitely harder out there today than it was on day one.’’

Von Dellingshausen, who recorded a top-two finish in only his third start on the European Challenge Tour at the 2017 Bridgestone Challenge, is still looking for his first win on the circuit but moved a step closer to doing just that with a five under par second round of 67.

The chasing trio sits one shot ahead of a group of five players on eight under par, which includes England’s Jack Senior, who flew to Slovakia the day after qualifying for The Open Championship.

Chase Koepka, the younger brother of three-time Major Champion and Challenge Tour graduate Brooks, is also on eight under par as he bids to win his first Challenge Tour title.

Garrick Porteous, another one of the nine Challenge Tour players to qualify for The Open Championship on Tuesday, made the move of the day, firing a seven under par round of 65 to jump 82 spots into a share of 22nd place.

The cut fell at two under, with 64 players making it through to the weekend.

Van Driel will tee up his third round at 12:30 pm local time, alongside Cantero Gutierrez, with the opening group of Jan Cafourek and Roope Kakko getting the third round underway at 7:36 am.

Scores after round 2:

par 144 (2x72)

133 D Van Driel (Netherlands) 64 69 

135 N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 68 67, S Fernandez (Spn) 67 68, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 67 68
136 J Carlsson (Swe) 71 65, S Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 69 67, J Senior (Eng) 66 70, C Koepka (USA) 69 67, J Geary (Nzl) 68 68
137 M Carlsson (Swe) 68 69, N Højgaard (Den) 70 67, D Boote (Wal) 68 69, B Easton (SAf) 68 69, L Van Meijel (Netherlands) 68 69, H Ellis (Eng) 69 68, F Laporta (Ita) 67 70, R Enoch (Wales) 68 69 
138 R Roussel (Fra) 67 71, M Kim (S Korea) 69 69, C Pigem (Spn) 70 68, R Højgaard (Denmark) 70 68
139 R Santos (Portugal) 70 69, O Stark (Swe) 69 70, S Matus (Czech) 69 70, G Porteous (Eng) 74 65, B Neil (Sco) 67 72, D Huizing (Ned) 68 71, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 69 
140 D Perrier (Fra) 67 73, M Baldwin (Eng) 70 70, A Daydou (Fra) 69 71, A Meriaronk (Pol) 72 68, B Virto (Spn) 69 71, L Nemecz (Austria) 68 72, D Whitnell (Eng) 71 69, L Scalise (Ita) 72 68, A Michael (SAf) 67 73, J Brun (Fra) 70 70, M Wiegele (Austria) 69 71, S Del Val (Spn) 66 74 
141 G Havret (Fra) 72 69, W Besseling (Ned) 70 71, S Piaget (Mon) 69 72, N McCarthy (Eng) 71 70, T Tree (Eng) 71 70, J Thomson (Eng) 69 72, R Bland (Eng) 70 71, J Sjöholm (Swe) 68 73, S Tarrio Ben (Spn) 73 68, H Sturehed (Swe) 70 71, G Kristjansson (Iceland) 74 67, A Cockerill (Canada) 70 71, O Farr (Wales) 68 73, D Gavins (Eng) 70 71
142 J Cafourek (Czech) 72 70, C Howie (Sco) 68 74, L Canter (Eng) 71 71, J Kunzenbacher (Ger) 71 71, J Lima (Portugal) 74 68, J Quesne (Fra) 68 74, R Kakko (Finland) 69 73, V Riu (Fra) 67 75, N Tinning (Denmark) 72 70, F Fritsch (Ger) 72 70 

MISSED THE CUT143 D Im (USA) 69 74, C Gloet (Den) 71 72, C Braeunig (Ger) 70 73, J Grenville-Wood (Eng) 69 74, P Widegren (Swe) 69 74, R De Sousa (Sui) 69 74, A Rozner (Fra) 70 73, O Lindell (Fin) 75 68, F Mruzek (Czech) 71 72, C Casalegno (Ita) 75 68, R Caron (Netherlands) 71 72, B Spooner (Eng) 74 69, P Angles (Spn) 74 69, E Cuartero Blanco (Spn) 71 72, J Glennemo (Swe) 73 70, E Dubois (Fra) 73 70, C Del Moral (Spn) 69 74, M Eriksson (Swe) 70 73, N Johansson (Swe) 74 69, E Holmes (Can) 72 71, M Gradecki (Pol) 71 72, B Stow (Eng) 73 70, P Mach (am) (Svk) 70 73
144 J Wrisdale (Eng) 69 75, J Girrbach (Sui) 70 74, C Mivis (Bel) 74 70, M Lampert (Ger) 72 72, T Murray (Eng) 74 70
145 S Tiley (Eng) 74 71, M Helligkilde (Den) 70 75, H Joannes (Bel) 72 73, M Simonsen (Den) 71 74, C Gane (Eng) 74 71 
146 J Kölbing (Ger) 71 75, F Aguilar (Chi) 70 76, L Cohen-Boyer (Fra) 76 70, R Cho (S Korea) 71 75
147 A Puchmelter (Slovakia) 74 73, A Olsen (Nor) 75 72, A Saracino (Ita) 72 75, C Ross (Sco) 72 75, M Siem (Ger) 72 75, M Albertus (Netherlands) 75 72, S Gros (Fra) 75 72, M Keyser (SAf) 75 72
148 M Galiano Aguilar (Spn) 73 75, M Young (Eng) 75 73, J Vecchi Fossa (Ita) 71 77, P Maddy (Eng) 73 75, J Doherty (Sco) 71 77, M Brezovsky (Slovakia) 75 73 
149 D Coupland (Eng) 73 76, M Cea (Ita) 74 75, J Carlota (Por) 72 77, D Papadatos (Aus) 72 77 
150 C Robb (Sco) 72 78, A Leitmannstetter (Ger) 76 74, 
151 B Eccles (Australia) 74 77, J Munro (Australia) 79 72, L Galliano (Switz) 79 72 
152 J Zunic (Australia) 76 76, A Korinek (Cze) 78 74, S Wittmann (Austria) 76 76, T iaBeck (Czech) 79 73, D Berna Manzanares (Spn) 74 78, L Renolds (Canada) 79 73, A Ahokas (Finland) 71 81, P Valasek (Slovak) 75 77, G Brixi (am) (Czech) 74 78 
153 D Suchan (Cze) 77 76, T Clements (Eng) 77 76
154 J Huldahl (Den) 80 74, T Yamac (am) (Tur) 80 74
156 M Mohr (Eng) 75 81, M Murray (USA) 80 76, L Robinson (Eng) 76 80, L Acikalin (am) (Turkey) 77 79, Š Zach (am) (Czech) 80 76 
159 S Danek (Cze) 76 83, M Decottignies-Lafon (Fra) 80 79 
160 P Mruzek (Cze) 78 82, D Siwy (am) (Cze) 82 78
162 L Zustak (am) (Slovakia) 73 89
163 B Lucansky (am) (Slovakia) 83 80
173 S Vida (am) (Slovakia) 90 83
** C Ford (Eng) 79 RT, P Gal (Cze) 76 WD, J Friesz (Svk) 86 RT, P Mejow (Ger) 73 RT, N Geyger (Chi) 75 WD, R Saxton (Ned) 73 WD, C Blomstrand (Swe) RT 0,