Laurie Canter will take a three-shot lead into the weekend of the European Open after posting a superb seven-under-par round of 66 on the Porsche Nord Course at Green Eagle.
His performance has placed him at the forefront, aiming for his maiden DP World Tour title in Hamburg.
The day started with a significant delay of three hours due to a flooded course, but once play commenced, Canter seized the opportunity to climb to the top of the leaderboard.
Starting on the tenth hole, he made birdies on the 10th and 14th holes, followed by an eagle on the 15th.
Another birdie on the 18th allowed him to make the turn at 33. He continued his impressive form with two additional birdies on the back nine, bringing his total to 12 under par.
Laurie Canter: I was pleased. When I got to the course today I felt pretty relaxed. I think if you teed off in the afternoon today, you’ve had a nice draw of it. You’ve had two good sleeps, we haven’t been interrupted other than a couple of delays and we haven’t been rained on so I felt quite positive just about that.
I putted really well today, which was nice, and obviously my ball-striking was solid. I think I hit every fairway today which is very important if you’re going to score well round here.
I like the layout, it tests every part of your game if you’re out of position but if you’re playing well tee to green and you keep plodding along you’re going to give yourself some chances. I’m delighted to have done that the last two days.
There’s such a long way to go. I’ve had leads before in tournaments and you can approach it one of two ways. I’m determined this weekend to go out and keep attacking the golf course as much as I can and play as well as I can. I don’t see any point in holding off.
I think there is a low score in the 60s out there as the leader proved yesterday with a nine under, that was a phenomenal score but it shows it can be done so I think in the position I’m in, I’m going to try and keep my foot down.
It’s golf so I’m expecting a few things to come my way but I have to approach it with a lot of positivity and don’t hold back at all for 36 holes and see where I end up. Although I’ve got a lead, I know the nature of golf and I don’t want to be playing negatively to any pin, I want to try and take it on for the rest of the week.
Overnight leader Jannik De Bruyn and Dane Niklas Nørgaard, who both posted a five-under-par round of 68, are tied for second place at nine under par.
Englishman Garrick Porteous sits in fourth position at seven under par, with four holes left to play in his second round, which was suspended due to darkness at 9:29 pm local time.
Defending champion Tom McKibbin, nine-time DP World Tour winner Pablo Larrazábal, Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa, Italian Guido Migliozzi, and South Africa’s Jayden Schaper are all a shot further back, sharing fifth place.
Round two is set to restart at 7:30 am local time tomorrow, with round three scheduled to begin no earlier than 10:00 am.
