Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren held the lead after a second round interrupted by heavy winds at the KLM Open.
Gusts of over 35mph at The International in Amsterdam led to a suspension of over two hours on Friday afternoon, with Lagergren already safely in the clubhouse on eight under par after a battling 68.
He shared top spot at that stage with first-round leader Ricardo Gouveia, who suffered from the difficult conditions after the resumption but clawed his way to a 72 and a six under par total thanks to a closing birdie.
Scotland’s Connor Syme was third on five under, a shot ahead of compatriot Richie Ramsay – who had one hole to play when darkness forced the players off the course – and France’s Pierre Pineau.
South Africa’s Dylan Naidoo shared ninth position on two under after carding 68, with Zander Lombard and Jayden Schaper a further stroke behind.
Lagergren, who entered the top 10 with a birdie at the last on Thursday despite a wayward tee-shot, started on the back nine on Friday and birdied the 10th, 12th and 14th to make good early progress despite a bogey at the 13th.
He dropped another shot at the 17th but then birdied the 1st, holed an extraordinary putt from the fringe at the 2nd and just carried the water at the next to make it three in a row.
The Swede responded to bogeys at the 5th and 7th with a birdie at the 8th and said: “It is so tough out there.
“I was grinding a lot all day and the toughest part out there was putting for me. I had three three-putts today and it doesn’t feel very bad, just tough.
“It was just a grind, so tough. Just trying to miss it in the right spots. The greens are very quick as well and with this wind, sometimes you can’t really touch the putts.
“Obviously that bonus on the 2nd, and a good wedge shot on the 1st and then got lucky to just miss the water on the 3rd and then hit a great wedge shot to three feet. It probably wasn’t my best stretch playing wise but certainly scoring wise.”
Play was halted at 4:10pm local time due to “oscillating balls” in the high winds, though tournament director Miguel Vidaor acknowledged they were “not really oscillating, basically moving”.
After the resumption at 6:30pm, and despite a hole-in-one for Australia’s Jason Scrivener at the 110-yard 11th hole, scoring continued to prove difficult as Gouveia and his fellow challengers were unable to stay with Lagergren’s lead.
One-over-par rounds of 72 were enough to keep Gouveia, Syme and Pineau in the top five, with Ramsay also one over for the day through 17 holes and four under for the tournament.
England’s Andy Sullivan shot an impressive 70, one of only 11 completed rounds under par, to share sixth place with Oliver Lindell and Francesco Laporta on three under. Finn Lindell went round in 71, level par, while Laporta was one under for 17 holes.
Scrivener’s ace followed an earlier albatross for Niklas Lemke, the Swede holing out from 183 yards at the par-five 3rd. At 10 over par, though, he remained well outside the projected cut line of four over.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
