John Catlin and George Bloor share the lead on ten under par heading into the weekend at the English Open supported by HotelPlanner.
American Catlin fired a six under par 66 and was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Bloor late in the day after the Englishman signed for a three under par second round of 69.
Catlin, starting on the tenth, birdied his first hole before dropping his only shot of the day on the difficult par three 11th. The 35-year-old responded well, however, with a gain on the 13th and added one more before he made the turn.
The American picked up another shot on the second before back-to-back gains on the fourth and fifth moved him clear at the top. Catlin made his seventh birdie of the day on the par five eighth before getting up and down on the ninth to cap a fine day’s work.
“It was very solid today,” he said.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit with my ball striking, but that’s been very solid the first two rounds. It gave me a lot of opportunities, and I was able to hole some putts, which is always nice.
“That’s what we’re looking for. The combination results in good scores, and I’m looking to continue that.”
Catlin is a three-time DP World Tour winner and has played the majority of his golf on the Asian Tour over the past two years, where he topped the Order of Merit in 2024.
Now, back on European soil and making his second appearance on this 2026 Road Mallorca, Catlin is eager to return to Golf’s Global Tour and add further titles to his resume.
“Obviously being here, I want to play well, and it would be nice to get my DP World Tour card back,” he added.
“I had six, seven great years out there and multiple wins and would love to add more to that. That’s definitely in the frame and something I’m focusing on.”
Bloor started his round three strokes back of Catlin’s clubhouse target but made up ground with a birdie on his opening hole. The Englishman dropped his first shot of the day on the par three fifth but recovered with two birdies before making the turn.
A birdie on the 13th was cancelled out by a dropped shot two holes later before Bloor reached the par five 16th in two, setting up a routine birdie to move into a share of the lead.
After running into trouble on the 18th, Bloor produced an impressive up and down to remain at ten under and alongside Catlin at the top.
“It was nice to seal the day with that ten-foot putt at the end,” Bloor said. “It was very rewarding.
“I think more than anything every shot counts out here. We play 72 holes and more than often there’s one shot in it at the end.
“The more you can hole and pick away at gives you a better shout come Sunday afternoon. Today was a much tougher day with the wind and with the greens getting firmer too. I had to minimise errors and play strategically. Fortunately, I played some nice golf coming in.”
Belgian Matthis Besard holds solo third on eight under, one stroke ahead of German Dominic Foos, South African Justin Walters, Swede Per Längfors and England’s Will Enefer.
The third round of the English Open supported by HotelPlanner gets under way at 7:25am on Saturday with Catlin and Bloor teeing off at 12:45pm.
