Robert Dinwiddie marched into a six shot clubhouse lead midway through the second day of the English Challenge thanks to another stunning 65 at Stoke by Nayland Hotel, Golf and Spa.
The three time Challenge Tour winner was tied for the overnight lead alongside Welshman Stuart Manley after opening with a 65 but took advantage of the benign early morning conditions on the second day after teeing off at the 10th hole.
The 29 year old birdied the par four 12th hole before three consecutive birdies from the 14th were followed by another gained shot at the par three 18th, where he sank a 35 foot putt from the fringe at the back of the green.
He followed that with another birdie at the first before a run of six pars and a birdie at the eighth hole to move to 14 under par as he completed the first two rounds without a single bogey and sat on 14 under at the top of the leaderboard.
“The key today was to follow yesterday’s round with a good start today and I did that,” said Dinwiddie, who had just 25 putts for each of the first two rounds. “I played the 10th well but didn’t quite make the putt. I made a great putt for par at the 11th which was key to keeping the momentum and then I birdied the 12th which got it started.
“The putt at the 18th is certainly not one you’d expect to make. All in all though, my goal was to shoot seven under again today and the start helped that.
“Obviously you have to putt well too. I read the greens well on the first day and did it again today. I just need to keep more of that for the weekend.”
Another Englishman was the closest player to Dinwiddie in the clubhouse after Chris Paisley carded a second successive four under par round of 68.
The 26 year old got off to a positive start when he birdied the tenth, his opening hole, before another birdie at the 12th. He followed that up with a bogey, however, before a birdie at the 15th and a bogey at the 16th meant he reached the turn in one under par.
An eagle at the second hole, after his second shot with a hybrid dropped to within 15 foot before holing the putt, and a birdie at the fifth meant he was in the clubhouse on eight under par.
“I got off to a really good start over three tricky opening holes which was nice,” said Paisley. “I made a good save then, on the 14th, for par. It wasn’t great for a few holes then but I played really solid on my back nine and it could have been a few shots lower but overall I'm happy with that round.
“The course is set up really well. It’s a bit different from the last few years. There’s a bit more rough which I think is good. I've been playing well recently so I feel good.
“Obviously there’s a long way to go and Robert is playing well so I have a lot of work to do to catch up but I've still got 36 holes to try and do that."
James Busby (68), Matt Haines (69) and Francis McGuirk (71) were all in the clubhouse on seven under par while American Brooks Koepka added a six under par round of 66 to his level par opening round and was a shot further back.
Manley, meanwhile, birdied the 12th hole, his third, before a bogey at the at the 13th was followed by an eagle at the 14th to move him to within five shots of the lead.
