Casey Jarvis carded a five-under-par 67 on Friday to move within two strokes of the lead at the halfway stage of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour.

Jarvis had an early bogey to set him back a little when he dropped a shot on the second hole, but he was blemish-free after that, picking up two birdies on the remainder of the front nine to turn one-under. He made four birdies on the back nine, and, at eight-under for the tournament, was in a share of fifth.

The lead, as it was after the first round, was held by Finland’s Sami Välimäki at 10-under-par after he made five birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey on his way to a level-par 72. At the halfway stage, however, he shared the lead with Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, who had a six-under 66, and fancied Frenchman Antoine Rozner, who had the low round of the day with his eight-under 64.

On a windy day that brought out a completely different side to the Mont Choisy Le Golf course, Rozner was superb for his 64. “I think this is one of the first times in my career where I am happy with every single score on every hole. That doesn’t happen a lot. I don’t think I could score any better on this golf course today,” said the man who in 2019 lost in a play-off to Rasmus Højgaard but who returns as a vastly different golfer with two DP World Tour victories since then.

“It was tricky and tough out there, so I’m really pleased with the way I played. I always missed on the right side and my chipping was great as well. It was tough, especially with the side winds. You had to aim so far right and left with those winds. My putting was also very solid. I’m happy with everything.”

Edging a little closer to the top of the leaderboard was Oliver Bekker, who had four birdies and three bogeys in his one-under 71. He was alone in fourth place. One back, Jarvis shared fifth with Christoffer Bring of Denmark and Frenchman Pierre Pinau.