Australian Scott Hend shot the joint-lowest round of the week to take a one stroke lead at the BMW International Open in Germany.
Continuing windy conditions brought the punishing rough into play again at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof near Cologne, but the 44-year-old avoided most of the trouble to shoot a 67 to go six-under par.
Hend bogeyed the 10th, his opening hole, to drop back to level par but it was his only blemish as a birdie on the 12th was followed by an eagle at the par five 15th before a birdie three at the 17th took him into a share the lead.
He closed his second round with back-to-back birdies to card a 67 that leaves him one shot clear of Chile’s Nico Geyger and Henric Sturehed of Sweden.
Wolverhampton rookie Aaron Rai briefly assumed the outright lead at seven under, helped by a hole in one with a six iron at the 167-yard 16th which won him a £125,000 BMW i8 Roadster courtesy of the tournament sponsors.
However, he mis-hit his approach to the sixth into the water guarding the front of the green and double-bogeyed, dropping another shot at the next but recovered to close with a 71 to be four under par.
“It was a tricky pin position and it was kind of downwind as well,” said the 23-year-old, who graduated from the Challenge Tour after winning three events last season.
“I actually wasn’t playing to get in pin-high, I was playing a little long then it pitched short, bounced perfectly and rolled up and went in.”
Two-time major winner and home favourite Martin Kaymer carded a 68 to move alongside Rai, overnight leader Sebastien Gros, Maximilian Kieffer and Australian Nick Cullen in a share of fourth.
Former Masters champion Sergio Garcia hit a brilliant approach to two feet at the par-five 15th for eagle — and then birdied the 17th — to reach one under and ease any fears of missing the cut.
The line eventually fell at four over, meaning world number 10 and US Open runner-up Tommy Fleetwood made the weekend courtesy of a six-foot birdie putt at his final hole for back-to-back 74s.
Second round scores & totals in the European Tour BMW International Open, Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof, Pulheim, Germany (Britain unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
138 Scott Hend (Aus) 71 67
139 Nico Geyger (Chl) 70 69, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 69 70
140 Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 71 69, Sebastien Gros (Fra) 68 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 68, Nick Cullen (Aus) 72 68, Aaron Rai 69 71
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 68
142 Matt Wallace 73 69, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 70 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 71, Mark Foster 72 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 73 69
143 Andrew Sullivan 71 72, Connor Syme 74 69, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 71 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 76 67, Thomas Detry (Bel) 71 72, Chris Paisley 72 71, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 69, Scott Jamieson 69 74
144 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 72 72, David Horsey 72 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 75, Jose-Filipe Lima (Prt) 73 71, Sam Horsfield 73 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 73 71, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 73
145 Nicolai Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 75, Joel Stalter (Fra) 74 71, David Howell 70 75, Richard McEvoy 77 68, David Lipsky (USA) 74 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 74, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 74
146 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 76 70, Mark Tullo (Chl) 70 76, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 73 73, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 76 70, Jonas Kolbing (Ger) 74 72, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 73 73, Tom Lewis 76 70, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 75, Victor Perez (Fra) 70 76, Gavin Green (Mys) 75 71, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 74, Bradley Dredge 73 73
147 Chris Wood 72 75, Lasse Jensen (Den) 74 73, Birgir Hafthorsson (Isl) 74 73, Ashley Chesters 73 74, Christopher Mivis (Bel) 72 75, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 72 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 73, Chase Koepka (USA) 75 72, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 72 75, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 75 72, Austin Connelly (Can) 73 74
148 Charlie Ford 74 74, Matthew Nixon 76 72, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 74 74, Bradley Neil 75 73, Lee Slattery 79 69, Felipe Aguilar (Chl) 75 73, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 77 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 74, David Drysdale 75 73, Julian Suri (USA) 75 73, James Heath 73 75, Tommy Fleetwood 74 74, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 74 74
149 Richard Bland 77 72, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 78 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 76 73, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 78 71, Oliver Fisher 75 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 75, Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 74 75, Adam Bland (Aus) 74 75, Stephen Gallacher 77 72, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 74 75, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 75 74
150 Pontus Widegren (Swe) 75 75, Steven Brown 78 72, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 76 74, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 77 73, Matthew Baldwin 75 75, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 75 75, Laurie Canter 73 77, Max Schmitt (a) (Ger) 76 74, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 73 77, Jeff Winther (Den) 77 73, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 74 76, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 79 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 77 73
151 S.S.P Chawrasia (Ind) 80 71, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 75 76, Yan-wei Liu (Chn) 74 77, Paul McBride (Irl) 76 75, Scott Fernandez (Spa) 75 76, Pep Angles (Spa) 75 76, Heinrich Arkenau (Ger) 76 75, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 75 76, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 73 78, Seung-su Han (USA) 75 76, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 74 77, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 80, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 78 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 76 75
152 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 76 76, Jonathan Thomson 77 75, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 76 76, Josh Geary (Nzl) 77 75, Jason Norris (Aus) 76 76, Oscar Serna (Mex) 79 73, Marc Warren 74 78, Christian Braeunig (Ger) 77 75, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 78 74
153 Ricardo Gouveia (Prt) 76 77, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 78 75, Hurly Long (a) (Ger) 79 74, Paul Peterson (USA) 75 78, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 78 75, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 81 72, Oliver Farr 81 72, Soomin Lee (Kor) 77 76, Ross McGowan 77 76
154 Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 78, Callum Shinkwin 75 79, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 76 78, Renato Paratore (Ita) 82 72
155 Daniel Im (USA) 73 82, Chris Hanson 73 82, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 73 82, Johan Edfors (Swe) 79 76
157 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 79 78, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 81 76
158 Rak hyun Cho (Kor) 82 76, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 78 80, Julian Kunzenbacher (Ger) 76 82, Sam Brazel (Aus) 85 73
159 Clement Sordet (Fra) 83 76, Sean Einhaus (Ger) 80 79
160 Jordan Zunic (Aus) 82 78, Max Kramer (Aut) 78 82
161 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 82 79, Michael Hirmer (a) (Ger) 81 80, Fin Fleer (Ger) 83 78
