Vallarta (Mexico), Feb 24 European stars, Matt Wallace and Sami Valimaki were part of a four-way lead at the halfway stage of the PGA Tour's Mexico Open at Vidanta.
Wallace, who has won in as far-off places as India at the Hero Indian Open and Portugal, Denmark and Germany, also has a PGA Tour win in Corales Puntacana Championships in the Dominican Republic.
He followed an opening-round 66 with a six-under 65 on Friday at Vidanta Vallarta, moving him to 11-under alongside Sami Valimaki, Alvaro Ortiz and Jake Knapp. The leading Asian player was Carl Yuan (71-65) in T-9, while CT Pan (71-67) was in T-31.
Wallace, who has said that he likes to fight back, started at the tenth and bogeyed his opening hole of the day. He took advantage of the next two par-fives, dropped å shot at the 14th but birdied the par-five 18th to reach the turn in 35. He birdied the second, fifth and seventh and eagled the sixth for 5-under 30 and a round of 6-under 65 to move top of the leaderboard.
Valimaki was among 10 players from the DP World Tour who earned PGA TOUR cards this year. He had seven birdies with three bogeys during his second-round 67.
Jake Knapp made four birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn in his blemish-free 64 and Carlos Ortiz carded a 30-foot eagle and five birdies to also get to 11 under. Overnight leader Erik van Rooyen birdied two of his last four holes in a two-under 69 and stayed within a shot of the halfway lead.
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