John Parry produced a birdie-birdie finish to move into the solo lead at the halfway stage of the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa.
The Englishman added an excellent six under par round of 65 to his opening 63 to move to 14 under after two rounds, one clear of overnight co-leader Benjamin Hebert, from France, who is second on 13 under.
Parry, who won the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in December, is the only bogey-free player in the field at Muthaiga Golf Club and is the man to catch after 36 holes.
The 38-year-old started with seven pars in a row before picking up his first birdie of the day at the par-four eighth hole to make the turn at one under.
His back nine blitz started immediately, with a birdie at the par-five tenth hole before back-to-back gains arrived at the 13th and 14th.
The two-time DP World Tour winner entered the final stretch one shot behind Hebert, but he drew level with his fifth birdie of the day at the 17th with just the closing par five to come.
The 2024 HotelPlanner Tour graduate’s lay-up to the 18th found the bunker, but he produced a superb up-and-down to card his sixth and final birdie of the day to take the 36-hole lead for the fourth time in his DP World Tour career and first since 2010.
John Parry: A lot trickier than yesterday with trying to judge the wind. It got a lot bouncier. I felt like I controlled the ball all day, I definitely drove it better than yesterday. I controlled my ball flight pretty well and felt comfortable out there.
I think it’s massive [to have courses like this on the DP World Tour] and it shows with the scoring.
You see it with some courses that are long and the cut is three or four under par, whereas here it’s level par. I think last year it was level or one over, it’s something we should do more of and it certainly suits me quite nicely.
Hebert had earlier set the pace with a hot finish off his own, reeling of a trio of birdies to put the finishing touches to a round of 66 with just a single dropped shot.
Parry and Hebert have opened a gap between themselves and the rest of the field, with South Africa’s Jayden Schaper sitting third on nine under par after a closing eagle earned him a two-under round of 70.
Swede Christofer Blomstrand is fourth on eight under, with five players sharing fifth on seven under including Scotland’s Connor Syme, whose seven under 64 was the lowest round of the day.
