Bryce Easton carded his second successive three-under-par 69 on Friday to move into a share of third place at the halfway mark of the Challenge Tour’s Hopps Open de Provence in France at six-under-par.

It was a bogey-free effort from Easton as he uses the final few tournaments on the Challenge Tour schedule – there are two plus the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final left – to try and get into the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca rankings to win his playing rights next season on the DP World Tour.

He is currently projected to rise 11 places to 27^th, so a good finish this week is important. He kept things tidy as a result, starting his round on the 10^th. There were two birdies on the back nine, on one on his way home on the front nine.

He was two shots behind the leaders, Daniel Hillier of New Zealand, who had a six-under-par 66 to move to eight-under, and Bailey Gill of England, who signed for e three-under 69. Easton shared third with Robbie van West of the Netherlands and Oscar Lengden of Sweden.

Deon Germishuys is another South African looking to finish inside the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca rankings, and he was in a share of sixth place after a second round of one-under-par 71. That took him to five-under for the tournament, and he is projected to rise one place to 22^nd on the rankings.

The other South African in the field, JC Ritchie, is comfortably inside the top 20 with a pair of victories this season to his credit. He will play on the weekend in France after his second round of level-par 72 lifted him to two-over-par, making the cut on the number. He is projected to drop to 11^th as things stand.