Laurie Canter will take a three-shot lead into the weekend of the European Open after he posted a seven under par round of 66 on the Porsche Nord Course at Green Eagle.
Related: Jannik De Bruyn goes low to lead in European Open
There was a delay of three hours to round two tee times this morning due to a flooded course but once play got under way, Canter climbed to the top of the leaderboard and has now set his sights on securing a maiden DP World Tour title in Hamburg.
Starting on the tenth, he made a birdie on the 10th and 14th before he eagled the 15th. Another gain on the 18th saw him make the turn in 33, before two more birdies on his back nine took him to 12 under par.
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Overnight leader Jannik De Bruyn and Dane Niklas Nørgaard, who posted a five under par round of 68, share second place on nine under par.
Englishman Garrick Porteous sits in fourth position on seven under par with four holes left to play of his second round as play was suspended at 9:29pm local time due to darkness.
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Defending champion Tom McKibbin, nine-time DP World Tour winner Pablo Larrazábal, Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa, Italian Guido Migliozzi and Jayden Schaper of South Africa are a shot further back in a share of fifth.
Player quotes
Laurie Canter: I was pleased. When I got to the course today I felt pretty relaxed. I think if you teed off in the afternoon today, you’ve had a nice draw of it. You’ve had two good sleeps, we haven’t been interrupted other than a couple of delays and we haven’t been rained on so I felt quite positive just about that.
I putted really well today, which was nice, and obviously my ball-striking was solid. I think I hit every fairway today which is very important if you’re going to score well round here.
I like the layout, it tests every part of your game if you’re out of position but if you’re playing well tee to green and you keep plodding along you’re going to give yourself some chances. I’m delighted to have done that the last two days.
There’s such a long way to go. I’ve had leads before in tournaments and you can approach it one of two ways. I’m determined this weekend to go out and keep attacking the golf course as much as I can and play as well as I can. I don’t see any point in holding off.
I think there is a low score in the 60s out there as the leader proved yesterday with a nine under, that was a phenomenal score but it shows it can be done so I think in the position I’m in, I’m going to try and keep my foot down.
It’s golf so I’m expecting a few things to come my way but I have to approach it with a lot of positivity and don’t hold back at all for 36 holes and see where I end up. Although I’ve got a lead, I know the nature of golf and I don’t want to be playing negatively to any pin, I want to try and take it on for the rest of the week.
Jannik De Bruyn: I’m really proud of my performance today. After nine holes I thought I was back to reality but it was nice to fight back on the second nine and hit some better shots and leave the ball in the right spots.
I was very patient today because I knew I was still in a good position. The support was great and I was quite nervous because I made a few mistakes. I dealt with the pressure well on the back nine and I really enjoyed myself out there.
There’s so much to golf to play and I will enjoy the weekend out here. These are the moments you want as a professional golfer. My family and friends were with me today and to finish with a birdie was great.
Niklas Nørgaard: I feel in complete control of my game. I haven’t been in this position many times in my career on the DP World Tour so I am a little bit surprised at how calm I feel out there. My game feels good and when I’ve put myself in trouble I have managed to make some good saves.
On paper this course is a very good fit for my game, however last week was more of a positional course in Soudal and I played very well.
Sometimes it is just about managing expectations and I took that mindset heading into this week and so far it has gone very well.
Last week gave me a lot of confidence and proved to myself that I am able to hit good shots in that environment at the top of the leaderboard. I’m going to try and do exactly the same over the weekend and hopefully it puts me in a good position.
