Laurie Canter shot a brilliant bogey-free 66 to take a three-shot lead into the European Open weekend.
The Englishman was four shots behind Jannik De Bruyn going into the second day but finished ahead of overnight leader and Dane Niklas Nørgaard at 12 under in the fading light at Green Eagle Golf Links.
Norgaard had set a target of 68 before Kanter charged onto the leaderboard, while Germany’s De Bruyne was four shots over par at the turn before finishing at even-par 73.
Britain’s Garrick Porteous, who was seven under with four holes to play, was one of 20 players who had to finish their second round on Saturday morning because the start of the second day’s play was delayed three hours because the course was flooded.
Kanter has finished runner-up four times since qualifying in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and is seeking his first DP World Tour title.
In 2019, he played on the European Challenge Tour but had a breakthrough season in the coronavirus-affected 2020 season, finishing second at the Portugal Masters and Italian Open and finishing in the top 20 in the Race to Dubai ranking in partnership with Rolex.
He arrived in Hamburg on the heels of a top-10 finish at the Sunderland Open last week, but decided to change all of his irons before teeing off this week, a decision that appears to be paying off.
“I putted really well today, which is great, and my ball striking was obviously solid,” he said. “I thought I hit every fairway today, which is really important if you want to do well here.
“I thought I brought a lot of strengths to my game and my short-game skills helped me a couple of times, which was gratifying.
“It’s still a long way to go. I’ve been ahead in tournaments before and you can approach it both ways. I’m determined to go out this weekend and attack the golf course as much as I can and play my best score. I don’t see the need to delay.
“I think a score in the low 60s, as evidenced by the leaders being 9 under yesterday, is a phenomenal score, but it shows I can do it, so I think in the position I’m in, I’ll try to hang on.”
“This is golf, so I expect some things to happen to me, but I have to take it very positively and not back down for 36 holes and see where I end up. Even though I’m ahead, I know the nature of golf and I don’t want to underperform on any hole and I want to go for it the rest of the week.”
After the break, Norgard began to take control of the situation. He hit a beautiful tee shot on the par-3 14th hole, then won with two putts on the next par-5 fifth hole, and holed the ball out of the bunker on the 18th hole.
He had a bogey after a long putt on the 1st hole, but the 32-year-old holed his approach to 12 feet on the 3rd hole and nearly holed his second for eagle on the 7th hole, moving three shots ahead of the early runners.
However, Kanter began to catch up to him, hitting beautiful shots with his irons on the 10th and 14th holes, and then taking the second shot with an amazing six-footer on the 15th hole for an eagle and back in the lead.
He holed out from off the green for birdie on the 18th hole, added another point with a 31-foot putt on the 1st hole, and extended his lead with a birdie on the par-5 4th hole.
De Bruyne bogeyed the 10th hole but fought back with an easy shot on the 13th before bogeying four of the next five holes to finish at 42 and drop down the rankings.
On the second hole, he hit his tee shot to six feet, which became a springboard for his resurgence as he two-putted for a win on the fourth, made birdie from 14 feet on the seventh and, on the ninth, dropped his approach to five feet to take advantage of a par-5 opportunity.
Starting with the 10th hole, Porteous won four of the five par-5 holes he has played so far, while making a bogey on the 1st hole.
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Defending champion Tom McKibbin shot 71 to move six shots off the lead along with Yuto Katsuragawa of Japan, Pablo Larrazábal of Spain, Guido Migliozzi of Italy and Jayden Schaper of South Africa.
– DP World Tour website
