Mark Power couldn’t quite rekindle the magic of his opening 64 but he remains in the hunt at the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge after grinding out a one-under 71, and Conor O’Rourke is one further adrift.
Power began the day as the solo leader, but by the time he reached the first tee as one of the late starters, he’d already been overtaken but birdies on two of his first nine holes were enough to get him back into a share of the lead at -10.
Bogeys on 10 and 15 with a lone birdie on 13 saw him cover the back side in +1, and he now trails by three heading into the weekend but sits tied for seventh.
The round of the day from an Irish perspective came from Conor O’Rourke who backed up his opening two-under with a second-round 66 to move to -8.
The round began with a bogey, and though he’d get that shot back on the next, another bogey followed on the fourth. From that point onwards, however, he got into his groove and birdies at five, eight and nine saw him enter the back nine at -2 on the day.
The highlight came on 12 as his eagle-three propelled him further upwards, and he’d add two more birdies – including a birdie-four at the last – and he leapt up into a tie for 12th.
They are the sole Irish representatives at the weekend after Cormac Sharvin and John Murphy missed the cut on -1 and level-par respectively.
Angel Ayora will take a two-shot lead into the weekend after he eagled the last at Vierumäki Resort.
The Spaniard entered the second round four shots off the lead but posted a brilliant eight under par round of 64 to move to 12 under par, two clear of Italian Pietro Bovari, French duo Alexander Levy and Sébastien Gros and Sweden’s David Nyfjäll and Oliver Gillberg in second.
The 19-year-old, starting from the tenth, carded three birdies and a bogey on his front nine to make the turn at two under before exploding into life with four birdies and a stunning eagle finish to put him in pole position ahead of the weekend, where he will aim to secure a maiden Challenge Tour title.
“I’m very happy today because I played very well,” he said. “My game was strong in all areas and hopefully I can carry this on into the weekend.
“It was great to finish with an eagle. I hit a very good drive and then a very solid iron shot right next to the pin and then made the putt.
“This course suits my game because I can be aggressive with the driver and I have been rolling the ball great on the greens. My irons were really good today and I managed to create a lot of birdie opportunities for myself and then my putter was hot.
“I’m going to be patient tomorrow and hopefully I can see my putts drop again,” he added. “I hope to have a strong finish over the weekend, or a win would be fantastic. I need a few more good tournaments if I want to achieve my goal of securing promotion to the DP World Tour.”
Overnight leader Power, Scotland’s Ryan Lumsden, Spaniard Quim Vidal and Swedish duo Christofer Blomstrand and Niklas Lemke share seventh position on nine under par.
The third round will get under way at 7:30am local time, with Ayora teeing it up in the final group alongside Bovari and Levy at 11:41am.
