Teenage amateur tied for lead at Nordea Masters

Marcus Kinhult continued his impressive run at the Nordea Masters as he earned a share of the halfway lead with Jens Dantorp at PGA Sweden National in Malmo.

The teenage amateur proved his opening 67 was no one-off when he added a solid, five-birdie 68 on the second day to set the early clubhouse target at nine under, a score that only Dantorp could match among the later starters.

Home favourite and world No 4 Henrik Stenson has ground to make up after he laboured to a level-par 72 to slip seven shots off the lead, but young English pair Tom Lewis and Eddie Pepperell are only three behind heading into the weekend.

Kinhult, who won the prestigious Lytham Trophy by eight shots last month, became the first amateur to lead after 36 holes in a European Tour event since Shane Lowry, who went on to win the 2009 Irish Open after a play-off with Robert Rock.

The 18-year-old started on the back nine and birdied the 12th and 17th before picking up another shot on the par-five first, although he three-putted the sixth to drop back to seven under.

But the world amateur No 3 got the shot straight back with a 10-foot putt for birdie at the next, and he hit a stunning 190-yard approach to 15 feet at the daunting 476-yard, par-four ninth and rolled in the putt to the delight of his home fans.

A lot of fun

Kinhult told European Tour Radio: "That was a lot of fun. I had a great time out there. It felt great coming in those last few holes with bigger crowds and I managed to make two big putts too, so that was a great feeling.

I'm here to gain some experience and that's what it's all about. It's going to be a lot of fun this weekend and good experience to go out there tomorrow and try again.

"I saw my name on the leaderboard, it was hard to avoid, but I tried to just stick to the game plan and focus on what I could affect and I managed to do that pretty well so I'm happy with that.

"I'm here to gain some experience and that's what it's all about. It's going to be a lot of fun this weekend and good experience to go out there tomorrow and try again."

The only player to match Kinhult's halfway score was Dantorp, who birdied four of the first seven holes and hit back from a bogey at the 12th with his fifth birdie of the round at 14 before parring in to stay in a tie for the lead.

Germany's Maximilian Kieffer appeared primed to make it a three-way tie at the top after a run of five birdies in eight holes around the turn, but he bogeyed the final two holes to hand in a 69 and join Sebastian Soderberg on seven under.

Lewis fired a respectable 70 to move to six under alongside Pepperell, who made five birdies and dropped just one shot in a 68, while Alexander Noren birdied two of his last three holes to join the share of fifth.

Stenson offset three birdies with as many bogeys to remain at two under, but Miguel Angel Jimenez and David Howell both bogeyed their final holes to miss the halfway cut by a single shot.

Live coverage of the third round in Malmo starts Saturday at 12.30pm on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.