Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is in pole position to cap a brilliant rookie season with a maiden European Tour title after finding top gear in the Porsche European Open.
MacIntyre added a flawless second round of 65 to his opening 68 at Green Eagle Golf Course in Hamburg to reach 11 under par, four shots clear of Germany’s Bernd Ritthammer, who returned a 66.
Overnight leader Paul Casey struggled to a 73 to lie six shots off the pace alongside Austria’s Matthias Schwab and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi.
For Pádraig Harrington a battling round of 74 on the tough layout was enough to see him through to the weekend while he is joined by Gavin Moynihan and Michael Hoey after they shot 72 and 71 respectively.
Moynihan in particular could do with a strong weekend to make some moves up the Race to Dubai rankings as he currently sits 155th, 45 spots outside the top-110 cut off to keep his card.
MacIntyre’s brilliant debut season has already produced back-to-back runners-up finishes and a tie for sixth in the Open at Royal Portrush, but the 23-year-old from Oban remains intent on improving.
“It’s probably the best I’ve driven the ball this year, it’s not just going straight it’s going miles,” said MacIntyre, who birdied just one of the five par fives on the 7,500-yard layout.
“I don’t know what I’m doing but it’s working so I’m just going to try and continue to do it.
“I can only control what I can control and that’s swinging the golf club for each individual shot so that’s all I’m going to do over the weekend as well and hopefully we can keep the good scores coming.
“I’ve changed quite a few things over the season to improve and they seem to be working. Dave (Burns) my coach is on the bag this week and doing a great job. Off the course when we’re at home we’re practicing the right things and it’s good to see the reward.
“It’s going to be tough, especially when it’s my first time with such a lead. I’m just going to have to learn from this experience.
“I’m doing the right things on the course, doing the right things off the course. I’m nice and relaxed, everything at home’s been brilliant so I’m in the right mindset for going out there this weekend.”
The leader after each round is given the use of one of the sponsor’s cars for the evening and MacIntyre added: “I think Dave was itching to get a wee shot but no, no, it’s my car this time!”
Casey was pleased to battle back after playing his first five holes in three over par as he seeks a 14th European Tour title.
“I’m quite happy with one over as it’s such a difficult golf course,” Casey told Sky Sports.
“Attitude is key, I had a good attitude and luckily there are some options to get birdies if you stick with it, but it’s very difficult.
“Not every course should be easy every week but if it were me I’d still move (the tees) up, only because you bring in a lot more interest into the way this course is played — hazards will be more in play and I’d like to see guys going for it a bit more.
“Right now it’s very, very difficult, almost kind of a defensive golf course which is not that enjoyable.”
World number nine Xander Schauffele, the top-ranked player in the field, is nine shots off the pace after a 69, while former Masters champion Patrick Reed is two over par following a 72.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour Porsche European Open, Green Eagle Golf Courses, Hamburg, Germany (British unless stated, par 72):
133 Robert Macintyre 68 65
137 Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 71 66
139 Guido Migliozzi (Spa) 71 68, Paul Casey 66 73, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 72
140 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 69
141 Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 70 71, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 69, Dominic Foos (Ger) 74 67, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 70 71, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 72 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 71
142 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 72 70, Ben Evans 69 73, Xander Schauffele (USA) 73 69, Ashley Chesters 71 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 69, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 72
143 Harrison Endycott (Aus) 72 71, Ben Stow 68 75, Sam Horsfield 75 68, Max Rottluff (Ger) 68 75, Oliver Fisher 73 70
144 Andy Sullivan 74 70, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 69 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 73 71, Lasse Jensen (Den) 71 73, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 71 73, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 77 67, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 69
145 Hugo Leon (Chi) 73 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 71, Matthew Southgate 74 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 74 71, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 75 70, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 77 68, Per Langfors (Swe) 72 73, Johannes Veerman (USA) 76 69, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 74, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 73 72, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 74 71, Scott Gregory 73 72, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 74
146 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 74 72, Sihwan Kim (Kor) 72 74, Paul Waring 74 72, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 77 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 73, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 74 72, Daniel Gavins 76 70, Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 74 72, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Spa) 72 74, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 74, Jake McLeod (Aus) 72 74, Dimitrios Papadatos (Aus) 74 72, Patrick Reed (USA) 74 72
147 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 78 69, Ross Fisher 72 75, Clement Sordet (Fra) 75 72, Ashun Wu (Chn) 77 70, Jack Singh Brar 74 73, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 76 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 78 69, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 72 75, Stuart Manley 72 75, Adam Bland (Aus) 71 76, (a) Marc Hammer (Ger) 72 75, Max Orrin 72 75, Troy Merritt (USA) 77 70
The following players missed the cut:
148 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 74, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 74 74, Berry Henson (USA) 74 74, Matt Kuchar (USA) 74 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 72, Heinrich Arkenau (Ger) 77 71, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 77 71, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 73 75, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 73, Chris Hanson 74 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 77 71, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 75 73, Jordan Smith 78 70, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 74 74, Alexander Levy (Fra) 74 74, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 74 74
149 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 75 74, Grant Forrest 75 74, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 79 70, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 74 75, Max Schmitt (Ger) 75 74, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 75 74, Austin Connelly (Can) 77 72, Sean Crocker (USA) 77 72, John Catlin (USA) 78 71, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 74 75, Benedict Staben (Ger) 77 72, Richie Ramsay 75 74, S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 76 73, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 74 75, Matthew Nixon 81 68, Richard McEvoy 77 72, Liam Johnston 74 75, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 75 74
150 Cormac Sharvin (NIrl) 73 77, Nick McCarthy 75 75, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 79 71, Oliver Wilson 79 71, Renato Paratore (Ita) 77 73, Emilio Cuartero Blanco (Spa) 71 79, Duncan Stewart 76 74, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 75 75, David Heinzinger (Ger) 75 75
151 Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 81 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 81 70, (a) Matthias Schmid (Ger) 77 74, Hurly Long (Ger) 78 73, David Cooke (USA) 73 78, Marc Warren 76 75, Georg Schultes (Ger) 73 78, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 76 75, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 76 75
152 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 79 73, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 78 74, Nicolai Tinning (Den) 78 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 75 77, Brett Rumford (Aus) 77 75, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 75 77, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 78 74, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 79 73, Allen John (Ger) 80 72
153 Harry Ellis 78 75, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 76 77, Julian Suri (USA) 77 76, Fin Fleer (Ger) 74 79, Sam Brazel (Aus) 75 78
154 Tom Murray 79 75, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 78 76, James Morrison 76 78
155 Simon Forsstrom (Swe) 79 76, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 76 79
156 David Drysdale 79 77
157 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 81 76, Maximilian Walz (Ger) 79 78
158 Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 77 81, David Borda (Spa) 79 79
159 Hyo-won Park (Kor) 76 83
