Casey Jarvis fired a seven under par round of 63 on day two of the Euram Bank Open at Golf Club Adamstal in Austria to take a one stroke lead into the weekend.
The South African registered six birdies on the front nine before adding two more on the back nine and just a single bogey to get to 12 under par for the week, one shot ahead of overnight leader Robin Roussel from France.
The 19-year-old started on the tenth and birdied his opening two holes to reach seven under par before carding five birdies in a row from the 15th hole – his sixth – to surge into the lead. Another birdie at the third was cancelled out by his only blemish of the day on the fourth, but he was pleased with his fast start and how he managed his game down the stretch.
“I played really solid all day today,” he said. “I've been hitting the ball well over the last few days and today I managed to keep that going.
“I got off to a good start and made five birdies from my fifth hole and I thought a really low one was coming. Unfortunately I made a bogey on my 13th hole, but otherwise it was really solid.
“I think the ball striking was on top form today. I struck the ball well all day and I felt in control of my irons. There's not a lot of drivers around this course, so I kept it in play with my irons.”
Jarvis, the Road to Mallorca Number Five, has had three second place finishes in 2023 and two other top tens, but is delighted to be in position to go in search of what would be a maiden Challenge Tour win this weekend.
“Every time I'm in contention, I'm really excited,” he added. “Like everyone, I want to be in contention every week, so I'm really looking forward to it again to see what I can do.
“I just need to stick to the game plan. I came into this week with a game plan to be really solid off the tee and that’s worked. I feel like if I stick to that, stay patient, and do the same things I've done the first two days I’ve got a chance.”
Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen matched Jarvis’ round of 63, going bogey-free to catapult himself into third on nine under par alongside Frenchman Franck Daux who birdied his final two holes to climb the leaderboard.
Three players share fifth place on eight under par, including Scottish duo Calum Fyfe - who also carded a bogey-free 63 - and Euan Walker, and American Julian Suri.
Frenchman Félix Mory, American Jordan Gumberg and Australian Ryan Ruffels are one shot further back on seven under par.
The third round gets under way at 6:30am local time with Jarvis teeing off alongside Roussel and Andersen at 11:04am.
