England’s Simon Khan shrugged off a frustrating end to his delayed first round to move smoothly to the top of the leaderboard in the Mallorca Classic at PulaGolf Club in Majorca by following his opening 66 with a 64 for a ten under par total of 130.
Khan leads by three strokes from three players – Spaniards Sergio Garcia and Carlos Rodiles and Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed. The pair of Spaniards carded second round 67s with Andersson Hed signing for a best of the day 63.
Khan was among 60 players forced to complete their opening rounds on Friday morning following two thunderstorms which disrupted play on Thursday. The 32 year old elected not to attempt a birdie putt on the 14th hole as darkness fell last night, but had cause to rethink that decision when he missed it on his return at 8.20am.
"Overall I'm happy but a little disappointed with this morning," said Khan, who was ranked 255th on the Official World Golf Ranking when he beat fellow Englishman, Paul Casey, in a play-off to win his first European Tour title in The Celtic Manor Wales Open in June.
"I left myself a six-foot putt on the 14th last night because when it's getting dark it's quite hard to see the line but in hindsight I should have had a go at it. I then bogeyed the next as well but overall it's an improvement and only the second time since Wales that I've played well and putted well at the same time."
Khan started his second round after the briefest of breaks and after a par on the tenth – his first hole - he birdied the 11th to move into a share of the lead at the time on five under alongside Francois Delamontagne and Darren Fichardt.
Second time around the 15th produced a birdie rather than a bogey and that lifted Khan into the outright lead on six under, one clear of Delamontagne and Andersson Hed.
Khan has had just one top ten finish since his victory at The Celtic Manor Resort but picked up another shot at the 17th to reach the turn in 32 at seven under par, although that was still only enough for a one shot lead as Andersson Hed had covered the front nine in just 29 strokes after another birdie on the eighth.
With no wind to speak of and greens made very receptive by the recent rain, the course was offering plenty of birdie chances and Khan was taking full advantage. Birdies at the first and second were followed by another brace at the sixth and seventh and only a bogey four at the last took some gloss off his day.
He still signed for a 64 and halfway total of ten under par, two shots ahead of Andersson who had one to play. Andersson also bogeyed his final hole, the par three 18th, to card a 63 and finish seven under, three behind Khan.
Khan revealed he had been struggling with the flu since last week in Scotland and almost did not play his opening round.
"Warming up on Wednesday morning I felt very dizzy and was aching all over and had to pull out of the pro-am," he explained. "I felt a bit better on Thursday and was laid back out there and gave it a go and the putts started to drop.
"It's one of those thing when you are not overly concerned about the score and things start to happen."
