Maria Hernandez fired a round of 67 (-5) to hold a two-shot lead at the end of the second day of the Belgian Ladies Open.
The Spaniard rolled in birdies on holes two, four, six and nine to make the turn in four-under-par at Naxhelet Golf Club.
Despite a dropped shot on the 10th, Hernandez made two further birdies on 14 and 16 for a round of 67 and to lead with a total of eight-under-par.
“I played very solidly all day and didn’t really get into trouble,” said Hernandez. “I hit a few good wedges and then made some good putts. It was an easy day today.
“You can get in big trouble if your driver is not in the right place but if your ball is in play, you can shoot a very low score. Especially today when the wind is better than yesterday.
“I feel my game is getting better the past three weeks starting from Jabra, so I think I’m getting more comfortable week after week. I’m going to keep playing my game. Tomorrow is going to be a new day, a new challenge. We’ll try to do the best and I want to keep just doing what I’m doing.”
Two players sit in a tie for second place on the leaderboard with India’s Diksha Dagar and Italy’s Clara Manzalini on six-under-par.
Both players also produced bogey-free rounds of 67 (-5) to put themselves into contention heading into the final day.
Dagar said: “Today everything went very smoothly, and I was loving the wind. Everything was going well, I was bogey-free and I made a few good up-and-downs and some of my distance has improved.
“I have been practicing my putting with Ludwig and he has really helped me. I have been getting a good feel and we have really improved my stroke. I made some very good long putts and saved some short putts.”
While LET rookie Manzalini explained: “It was awesome! I enjoyed it out there. It was nice weather; the course is playing really nicely and I had a lot of fun. I knew my game was going in the right direction, I’m always playing pretty nicely but I felt comfortable with my swing, putting, and chipping – everything was fine – so I stuck to my preparation and things have gone the way we want so far.
“I am just a rookie so I’m going to take it in as much as I can and have fun out there, I don’t have any expectations. This game teaches you that expectations are killers sometimes, at least for me, so I’m going to stick to my plan and have the best day I can.”
Six players are in a share of fourth place with English duo Lily May Humphreys and Cara Gainer, German pair Chiara Noja and Patricia Isabel Schmidt alongside Spain’s Mireia Prat and Japan’s Yuri Onishi all on five-under.
Humphreys, who won her maiden LET title at the 2023 Joburg Ladies Open, said: “I got off to a good start and I have been putting quite well. I got it rolling on the back nine yesterday and then pretty much straight out the doors this morning, I was holing a lot of putts.
“I hit a couple of off tee-shots and I didn’t recover too well, but I’m quite happy with the way I played together and held it well together pretty well.”
There are seven players in a tie for tenth place on four-under-par including home favourites Manon De Roey and Savannah De Bock.
At the conclusion of the second round, the cut fell at +3 with 75 players making it to the final day in Belgium.
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