It took a brilliant matching eight-under-par 61 by the leader on Friday to keep South Africa’s JC Ritchie off the top of the leaderboard in the second round of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Interwetten Open at par-69 Schladming-Dachstein Golf Club in Oberhaus, Austria.

Ritchie went bogey-free with four birdies on each of his nines as he rocketed to the top of the leaderboard, only to be overtaken at the end of the day by the hometown favourite, Maximilian Steinlechner, who had a bogey and a double-bogey in his 61 which took him to 13-under.

That was two strokes clear of Ritchie, who added his 61 to his opening 68. At 11-under through 36 holes, he was in a share of second with Italy’s Filippo Celli, who had a six-under 63 on a low-scoring day.

“That was good fun,” said Ritchie. “The game’s been really solid lately and the guys I was playing with really had it going. We were making putts left, right and centre. It was good to see some putts go in and it seemed to inspire me.”

Jovan Rebula had a six-under 69 to go with his opening 68, and, at eight-under, he was in a share of 14th at the halfway mark.

Bryce Easton and Kyle Barker were on six-under in a share of 28th, while Oliver Bekker was in a share of 40th on five-under.