Oriol extends advantage in Katrineholm

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<p>Pedro Oriol maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard with another excellent showing at the Swedish Challenge hosted by Robert Karlsson.</p>
<p>The Spaniard took a slender lead into the second round at Katrineholms Golfklubb, after a sublime eight under par 64 left him one clear of the rest of the field.</p>
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<p>Starting at the tenth, the 31 year old continued his fine form with two birdies in his first five holes, moving further ahead of the chasing pack.</p>
<p>Further gains at the first, fifth and eighth were offset by a bogey at the ninth – which meant Oriol signed for a 68 to move to 12 under par overall.</p>
<p>Heading into the weekend with a two-shot lead over England’s Jack Senior and tournament host Karlsson, Oriol is fully confident he can continue to lead from the front.</p>
<p>“I played pretty good,” said Oriol, who currently sits in 15thplace in the Road to Oman Rankings.</p>
<p>“I didn’t play the par fives as well as yesterday – I only made one birdie – but everything in my game was working well again.</p>
<p>“I think the wind was very different today. It was blowing in the opposite direction, and that definitely made things trickier.</p>
<p>“After the first two days I am feeling confident and just need to stay focused on my game and trust myself as I have done really well so far.</p>
<p>“I would love to play with Robert over the weekend. It would be the perfect situation as there will be lots of people watching us – and I enjoy playing in that environment.”</p>
<p>Alongside Oriol and Senior – who made two birdies and six eagles en route to a stunning 63 – in the final group out tomorrow will be former European Number One Karlsson.</p>
<p>The 11-time European Tour winner carded a seven under par 65 in front a jubilant local crowd – and admitted it was his best score at his home course.</p>
<p>“It was my best round here,” said Karlsson. “The course is so much harder than when I’ve played it in the last few years. I played really well today and there was just one bad shot in my whole round.</p>
<p>“You need to play well on the par fives and you have to hit the fairways to give yourself chances on this course, and I hit the ball nicely today and holed a couple of long putts too.</p>
<p>“I am really happy to be here and it is great to be able to contribute to the tournament by being in the last group out tomorrow. I am just trying to play better and better each day – that’s my one goal for this week.”</p>
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