American Bryson DeChambeau responded to a morning charge by Masters champion Patrick Reed with a second-round 68 to stay top of the Porsche European Open leaderboard in Germany.
The 24-year-old saw his overnight one-stroke advantage at the Hamburg event turned into a narrow deficit by compatriot Reed who carded a 66 before lunch to leap to eight under.
But DeChambeau hit back with four birdies in his last six holes – having been level par for his round through 12 holes after two birdies and two bogeys – to take him one clear of the field as he became the first man into double figures at 10 under.
Starting on the back nine Reed had three successive birdies from the 15th, meaning he has played the last four holes in six under par over the first two days.
He continued his run by picking up two more strokes in four holes after the turn before a short missed putt at the 475-yard sixth cost him his only dropped shot, but he bounced back with a further two birdies to sign for a 66.
“I hit half the greens yesterday and I missed three today,” said Reed in his post-round interview.
“I just went back and talked to my coach on the phone [after his first round] and he said, ‘Don’t over-think it’.
“I felt I could go into attack mode today and when my putter gets going I have the opportunity to make birdies.”
However, by the end of the day eight under was good enough only for a share of fourth place for Reed with Frenchman Romain Wattel and Scotland's David Drysdale.
Essex's Richard McAvoy produced the joint-best round of the week with six birdies, an eagle and just one bogey as he leaped into contention with a 65 which propelled him into a share of second place with Austrian Matthias Schwab.
Fellow Englishman Paul Casey got himself to six under through eight holes after four successive birdies but remained on that score as two bogeys coming home were mitigated by an eagle at the par-five last.
Ireland's Gavin Moynihan and Ruaidhrí McGee both missed the cut at the event.
Moynihan carded a two-under 70 to get back to three over, while McGee’s 75 left him on 10 over.
LEADERBOARD
(British and Irish unless stated, par 72, (a) denotes amateur):
134 Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 66 68
135 Richard McEvoy 70 65, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 68 67
136 David Drysdale 69 67, Romain Wattel (Fra) 67 69, Patrick Reed (USA) 70 66
137 Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 68, Bradley Dredge 68 69
138 Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 73 65, Philipp Mejow (Ger) 69 69, Paul Casey 69 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 72 66
139 Scott Hend (Aus) 68 71, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 72 67, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 69, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 69 70, Oliver Fisher 68 71
140 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 68, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 69 71, Lasse Jensen (Den) 68 72, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 71 69, Connor Syme 68 72, Christopher Mivis (Bel) 71 69, Scott Fernandez (Esp) 72 68, James Morrison 70 70
141 Steven Brown 68 73, Nico Geyger (Chi) 72 69, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72, Callum Shinkwin 71 70, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 70 71, Scott Jamieson 70 71, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 70, Sam Horsfield 70 71, (a) Allen, John (Ger) 68 73
142 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 75, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 72 70, David Horsey 69 73, Birgir Hafthorsson (Isr) 72 70, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 68 74, Kim Koivu (Fin) 72 70, Liam Johnston 72 70, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 75 67, Oscar Serna (Mex) 73 69, Jeff Winther (Den) 70 72, Sebastien Gros (Fra) 72 70, Daisuke Kataoka (Jpn) 71 71
143 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 75 68, Joel Stalter (Fra) 67 76, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 72, Jonathan Thomson 78 65, Jonas Kolbing (Ger) 73 70, Matias Calderon (Chi) 71 72, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 72 71, Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 71 72, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 71 72, Jordan Smith 71 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 71
144 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 73 71, Oliver Wilson 73 71, Luca Cianchetti (Ita) 72 72, Marc Warren 73 71, Rak hyun Cho (Kor) 72 72, David Lipsky (USA) 69 75, Nicolai Hojgaard (a) (Den) 69 75, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 70 74, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 72, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 72 72, Benedict Staben (Ger) 67 77, Richie Ramsay 75 69, Matthew Nixon 73 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 72 72, Nick Cullen (Aus) 73 71, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 75, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 73 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 72, Oliver Farr 70 74
MISSED CUT
145 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 73 72, Steve Webster 70 75, Daniel Brooks 72 73, Matthew Baldwin 71 74, Heinrich Arkenau (Ger) 70 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 73, Laurie Canter 70 75, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 72, Ryan Evans 71 74, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 72 73, Minkyu Kim (Kor) 74 71, Ross McGowan 71 74
146 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 74, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 71 75, Ash Turner 74 72, Tom Lewis 73 73, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 77 69, Luca Galliano (Swi) 75 71, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 73 73, Dennis Meyerrose (Ger) 74 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 74 72
147 Richard Bland 73 74, Ben Evans 75 72, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 74 73, Garrick Porteous 71 76, Pep Angles (Esp) 73 74, Ashley Chesters 73 74, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 71 76, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 72 75, Paul Peterson (USA) 75 72, Gavin Moynihan 77 70, Stephen Gallacher 70 77, Chris Hanson 72 75, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 76, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 74, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 74
148 Harrison Endycott (Aus) 71 77, Max Schmitt (Ger) 71 77, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 74 74, Viktor Hovland (a) (Nor) 68 80, Victor Perez (Fra) 74 74, Ajeetesh Sandhu (Ind) 74 74, Jack Munro (Aus) 72 76
149 Pontus Widegren (Swe) 72 77, Pat Perez (USA) 74 75, Brad Fritsch (Can) 75 74, Max Kramer (Aut) 74 75, Jamie Donaldson 76 73, Rasmus Hojgaard (a) (Den) 76 73, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 75 74, Pedro Oriol (Esp) 76 73
150 Mark Tullo (Chi) 72 78, Hurly Long (a) (Ger) 78 72, Simon Khan 74 76, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 74 76, Gavin Hall (USA) 74 76, Andreas Halvorsen (Nor) 73 77, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 76, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 75 75, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 74 76
151 Chase Koepka (USA) 74 77, Fabian Becker (Ger) 76 75, Niklas Adank (Ger) 77 74, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 80 71, Eun shin Park (Kor) 73 78, Georg Schultes (Ger) 72 79, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 78
153 Kyle McClatchie (Rsa) 79 74
154 Harry Ellis (a) 74 80, Mathew Perry (Nzl) 72 82, Ruaidhrí McGee 79 75
155 Paul Howard 74 81, Aaron Rai 80 75
158 Alex Fitzpatrick (a) 78 80
161 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 82 79
