Matt Wallace put himself in pole position to start the latest chapter of his golfing story with a win as he opened up a one-shot lead heading into the weekend at the Betfred British Masters.
The Englishman arrived at Hillside Golf Club this week with a fresh approach, looking to move up the Official World Golf Rankings and start challenging for Major Championships after his meteoric rise in recent times.
He has won four European Tour titles since 2017, and a second-round 67 in Southport kept him bogey-free through 36 holes and put him in position to challenge for another at 12-under.
Countryman Ross Fisher, Belgian Thomas Detry, Swede Niklas Lemke and Scot Richie Ramsay were his nearest challengers, with Lemke making a remarkable eight birdies in a row as he signed for 64.
Fisher took one more blow and Detry and Ramsay carded rounds of 67 to sit a shot ahead of another Swede in Marcus Kinhult, who recorded a 69.
Tournament host Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Eddie Pepperell were in the group at seven-under.
One back of that duo is Richard Sterne, who despite bogeying the 18th for the second straight day, managed to fire off a 68. Birdies at 5, 6 and 8 got him running on Friday before a birdie at 11 saw him climb the board. A fifth birdie came at the 14th before he closed with a five to drop back into sharing 17th place.
Haydn Porteous joined Jaco van Zyl in 23rd place after matching 69s, with Dean Burmester dropping 18 places after a second 71.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout bogeyed the 18th to miss the cut by one, as did Louis de Jager and George Coetzee.
