Euan Walker enjoying best week so far as DP World Tour card holder

The Ayrshireman followed an opening three-under-par 69 on the Vintage Course at Mission Hills with a bogey-free five-under-par 67 on the Blackstone Course.

He sits joint-sixth, six shots behind halfway leader Jordan Gumberg, and has been encouraged by his performance so far in an event being presented by MAEXTRO.

“Yeah, I am really pleased,” declared Walker. “Yesterday I started beautifully for the first ten holes and it kind of unravelled a little bit at the end of the back nine. I was playing well and I was frustrated that I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity that I gave myself yesterday.”

The 30-year-old signed for birdies at the fourth, sixth, 15th, 17th and 18th in a bogey-free second circuit.

“The Blackstone is definitely the more difficult of the courses,” he added. “I’d actually say that my ball-striking wasn’t quite as good today, but I just recovered brilliantly the times I put myself in awkward positions. You are always happy to finish bogey-free.”

Since securing his card for the main tour, Walker has made just one cut in his six starts so far but more of the same over the weekend and he could hand himself a massively timely boost.

“I was on track for a really low one yesterday and let that slide away a little bit,” he said. “I thought the lower you go out there, the easier you make your job for the rest of the rounds on the Blackstone.

“There were opportunities on the Blackstone as well and you can see that from some of the scores the guys had yesterday. Keep the ball on the fairway and the green and you’ll still have opportunities for birdie.”

American Gumberg cemented his position at the top of the leaderboard after following a 64 - it included nine birdies - on the Blackstone with a 66 on the Vintage.

He leads by two shots from Spaniard Jorge Campillo, with Walker among ten players on eight, nine and ten under.

“I’ll do a bit of practice this afternoon and keep things moving,” replied the Scot to being asked about his gameplan for the weekend. “Try and do better than I did today, though that is going to be difficult.”

The opening two rounds were played as a pro-am, which involved players using buggies, which is uncommon in main tour events.

“I don’t think it changes your preparation at all, but I think it certainly changes the atmosphere while you are in the tournament round,” said Walker of the format. “Playing in buggies for one thing is unusual. That’s the first time we’ve ever done that in a professional tournament.

“Playing with amateurs is not quite as unusual as we are used to doing that maybe once a year on the HotelPlanner Tour and then for the guys who play in the Dunhill Links as well.

“But it went really well. The amateurs we had were great and one of the boys we played with who was a seven handicap just shot a gross level par on the back nine.”

David Law (six under), Calum Hill (five under), Daniel Young (three under) and Grant Forrest (one under) also made the cut, with Cameron Adam (two over) being the odd man out among the Scots.

Elsewhere, first-round leader Kelsey MacDonald slipped down the field in the second round of the Australian WPGA Championship at Sanctuary Cove Gp;f & Country Club on the Gold Coast.

After following her course-record 64 with a 77 - the damage was done by a 6-7-6 run on the front nine - the former Scottish Women’s champion sits joint-34th on one under.

In-form home player Hannah Green - she won the Australian Women’s Open last weekend - leads by two shots on ten under after opening with scores of 65-67.

Meanwhile, Lorna McClymont slipped from second overnight to joint-13th at the finish of the Platinum Ladies Open on the Sunshine Ladies Tour after a closing 73 at Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate in South Africa.