Brandon Stone got himself into a good position on Friday after a second round of four-under-par 68 taking him to a share of 12th in the Challenge Tour’s Italian Challenge Open at Golf Nazionale in Viterbo, Italy.
The former South African Open champion made four birdies without dropping a shot as he moved to seven-under-par through 36 holes. That put him six strokes off the lead which was held by Italy’s Matteo Manassero. Manassero had a seven-under 65 to move to 13-under and a two-stroke lead over Alex Fitzpatrick of England. Another Englishman, Ashley Chesters, shared third with Germany’s Marc Hammer on 10-under.
Rookie Casey Jarvis was just one stroke behind Stone on six-under in a share of 1th after he carded a second round of two-under-par 70.
Luke Jerling, Pieter Moolman and Jaco Prinsloo were all on three-under in a share of 38th and were the only other South Africans to make the cut.
Missing out were Yurav Premlall, Dylan Mostert, Haydn Porteous and JJ Senekal.
