Dan Erickson fired a seven under par second round of 64 to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend of the Challenge de España.
The American, among the early starters at Isla Canela Links, mixed nine birdies with two bogeys to move to 11 under par for the week, two ahead of England’s Jamie Rutherford who holds solo second on nine under.
Having played the front nine in one under, the 27-year-old caught fire on the back with six birdies, including four in a row to close out his second round, to take charge at the halfway stage.
“All areas of the game have been solid and it’s nice to put together a few birdies out there,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I was good mentally to start; I was making a few mistakes here and there but once I got settled in the birdies started to fall at the end.
“Being patient and disciplined is important. It’s quite firm and fast actually so you kind of think your way around and not force something if it’s not coming early.
“Just stay patient and you will find some opportunities. There are some really tricky spots you can easily get yourself into.”
Last year, Erickson split his schedule between the HotelPlanner Tour and DP World Tour, with the American eventually ending the year 70th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings after 19 starts and four top tens.
However, now firmly in contention at the halfway stage at Isla Canela, the American admitted a positive result this weekend would see his attention shift solely to the HotelPlanner Tour, with 15 DP World Tour cards available come the end of the campaign.
“[A win] I’d 100 per cent commit to the HotelPlanner Tour for the rest of the year,” he added.
“I’m probably going to play predominantly here [HotelPlanner Tour] and play the odd event on the DP World Tour. It depends on how things are going and where I stand.”
Czech Filip Mruzek, Matteo Cristoni from Italy, American Alex Goff and Frenchman Julien Brun share third place on eight under par, with South African duo Ryan van Velzen and Justin Harding and Portugal’s Pedro Figueiredo one shot further back on seven under.
The third round of the
