Staff WriterChris Paisley turned the Swiss Challenge into his personal highlight reel on Friday, firing ten birdies in the swirling Lucerne wind to grab a share of the lead at Golf Sempach.
His round-of-the-day eight under par 63 sees him locked in a four-way tie with Spaniard Santiago Tarrio, Swede Tobias Jonsson and American Matt Oshrine, all perched on nine under par heading into what promises to be a dogfight of a weekend.
Paisley wasted no time getting into the thick of it, rolling in birdies on his opening four holes like a man who’s had enough of missing cuts.
The 39-year-old Englishman, who’s been grinding away despite a barren spell, turned in six under before adding four more birdies coming home – including a crucial one at the last to claw back after a couple of bogeys.
“I’m really happy,” Paisley said afterwards. “I didn’t expect to shoot eight under on a day like this, but that’s how golf works. It’s a funny old game.
I’ve not been in the best vein of form recently, so to go out and play well when it was quite windy today, I’m pleased. I had really good control of my ball, got it in the fairway and I putted great.
I’m just really happy to be shooting a good score. It’ll be nice to play a weekend. I haven’t played that many recently, but I’m enjoying my golf again and I’ve been working really hard. It has felt like some better golf was coming.”
Paisley’s flying start has him level with Tarrio, who carded a gutsy three under par 68 in the gusts.
The 34-year-old, already a two-time winner on the HotelPlanner Tour, is determined to keep the momentum going into the final two rounds.
“That’s two good golf rounds for me,” said Tarrio. “I don’t remember the last time I had a lot of birdies like this after two rounds.
It’s a really nice round today because of the windy conditions, especially the last few holes, with some tough pins.
Maybe I just play better in the wind. I’ll be very nervous over the weekend. The last time I saw my name on the leaderboard was a long time ago. I’ll be trying to play my best.”
Jonsson, riding the wave from a solid showing in Cadiz last week, kept his foot on the pedal with a composed second round that included four birdies and a lone bogey. The Swede’s steady play has him dreaming of a big finish on the Road to Mallorca.
“Every tournament I play, I need to take advantage in order to get a better category for next year, or to be able to play more this year,” he said.
“Hopefully I can have a good finish this week now. I’ve been hitting a lot of fairways. I only missed two greens today and missed one yesterday which is really solid. It was a long time ago that I was in contention for a win so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Oshrine, fresh off his win at the 2024 Open de Portugal, showed plenty of grit in the wind. After a fast start, he overcame a watery tee shot at 11 and bounced back with back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17.
“It was a good battle,” Oshrine said. “I got off to a good start when it was really blowing on the front nine and then kept plotting my way along nicely when I was out of position.
The bogey I made was a good one really, after hitting it in the hazard off the tee, and then I hit a great shot on 16, and two good ones to give myself an eagle chance on 17.
All-in-all, I did well this afternoon in the wind. It’s always fun when you put yourself in position on a Thursday and Friday. That’s all you can do. I’ll enjoy the fight this weekend.”
Hot on their heels is Italy’s Renato Paratore, one shot back and eyeing automatic promotion to the DP World Tour with a third win of the season.
He’s joined in fifth by Christofer Blomstrand, Ashley Chesters and Dane Jeppe Kristian Andersen.
Lurking a shot further back in ninth are Englishman Oliver Wilson, Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and local hero Mauro Gilardi.
Saturday’s third round of the Swiss Challenge kicks off at 8:15 am local time, with the final group of Paisley, Tarrio and Jonsson set to tee off at 10:20 am.
Judging by the leaderboard logjam, it’s shaping up to be a cracking weekend at Golf Sempach.
