Marco Penge will take a two-shot lead into the weekend after playing a marathon 32 holes on day two of the weather-affected Husqvarna British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.
The home favourite carded a 69 in the morning to get into contention and then surged ahead in round two, moving to eight under through 14 holes and 11 under in total.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, the 2023 champion, was his nearest challenger, one ahead of South African Shaun Norris, England’s Matthew Jordan, and Spain’s Nacho Elvira, who had set the target earlier in the day but is yet to start his second round.
Storms resulted in two hours and 11 minutes being lost in the afternoon, taking the total for the week to nine hours and 21 minutes and no players have completed their second round, with half the field yet to start theirs.
Penge was a three-time winner last season while also finishing sixth at this event, as he pushed Rory McIlroy all the way in the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World and earned dual membership with the PGA TOUR.
The 2023 HotelPlanner Tour Number One carded a bogey-free three under par opening round and after a quick turnaround, he burst into life in round two.
He started by driving the par-four tenth to 11 feet and holing for a spectacular eagle, putting him in pole position to win a Husqvarna Automower, gifted to the player who gets closest to the pin across the week.
The Englishman did incredibly well to save par on the 13th following an out of bounds drive, before another gain on the 14th after a tee-shot to eight feet.
An approach to nine feet on the 16th and second birdie of the day on the next had him level with Elvira and he then moved away after the turn.
The 28-year-old put an approach to ten feet at the first, holed from just short of 30 feet at the second and made the most of the par-five third to get to double figures.
A chip-in at the fifth then kept him two ahead of a charging Hillier. The 28-year-old, playing in the group behind, had also recorded a 69 in the morning with an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys.
He birdied the 12th, 15th and 16th and then added three gains in four holes from the second and will face an 18-foot putt to make it a hat-trick of gains on the sixth.
“It’s solid,” Penge said. “Pretty tough conditions with the wind and with the back flags, the greens being so soft, it’s tough to hit it close. Bogey-free round is always nice.
“For sure, it’s so nice to be playing in front of the home crowd. You get so much support out there. We had a big crowd like you said, this morning, which was nice, and hopefully a few others add to the crowd and themselves to me.
“My body should be fine. I obviously just had two weeks off and haven’t played that much the last couple of months. I’m pretty fresh compared to the other lads. I’ve got my physio and my trainer here.”
Jordan was one under for his round with four holes to complete, while Norris was two under with six to play.
American Davis Bryant was at yet to start his second round at six under, with Scot Ewen Ferguson on the same mark having completed ten holes of round two.
Tom McKibbin, who led overnight, returned to close out his opening round at four-under and will not start his second round until 09:45 on Saturday morning.
Play will resume at 7.30am, with those yet to start their second rounds teeing off between 8.45am and 10.45am. Round three will not start before 4.00pm.
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