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Pieters prowling in Perth’s World Super 6

Thomas Pieters played his way into contention in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth after a second round 66. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Thomas Pieters played his way into contention in the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth after a second round 66. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

THOMAS Pieters mastered the windy afternoon conditions to fire a second round 66 and join Ryan Fox in a four-way tie for the lead heading into the weekend at the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth.

New Zealander Fox recorded a second consecutive round of 68 to set the target at eight under par alongside Australia’s Matthew Griffin and Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat, with Pieters joining them at the top of a congested leaderboard at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Big-hitting Fox said: “I played really nice yesterday in some tough conditions and today was a little bit scrappy, but we had some pretty nice conditions this morning, greens were perfect.

“No wind around here makes the course pretty scorable, so it was nice to take advantage of that and be in a good place for tomorrow.

“The last couple years I’ve eyed that top 24 from sort of around the morning and it hasn’t worked out very well for me.

“I’ll try to aim a little higher this year and see what happens. It looks like it might blow tomorrow afternoon as well, so might be a case of just trying to hang on.

“Certainly not taking the foot off the pedal, just got to try to make some birdies and try to finish as high as possible.

“There is a little bit of bonus for finishing in that top eight, getting the first round off, and I’ll certainly be aiming for that.”

Fox missed out on the matchplay stages after losing in a play-off at Lake Karrinyup in 2017, and finished a shot out of the play-off 12 months ago.

Belgian Pieters, who secured the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf alongside countryman Thomas Detry on his last visit to Australia, has some match play pedigree having claimed four points on his Ryder Cup debut in 2016.

The host of last year’s Belgian Knockout played in a similar format, said: “I was two-over after whatever, 13 holes, yesterday. To be eight under is a bonus.

“I’ve rolled in a lot of putts over the past two days and I’m happy where I’m at.

“People can shoot low tomorrow and the cut-off for 24th place could be six, seven-under.

“So maybe I’m a couple shots in, but if you get careless, then I think you can drop a lot of spots easily.

“I think I’m going to go out there tomorrow and act like it’s a strokeplay event, and you always want to be in the first place.

“If you’re not, I don’t think you’re mentally taking it the right way.”

Englishman Richard McEvoy, Scot Robert Macintyre and Australian Matt Jager are one shot off the lead at seven under.

Spain’s Adrian Otaegui – who won the Belgian Knockout last summer and the Paul Lawrie Matchplay in 2017 – and Frenchman Clément Sordet are among a group of five players at six under par.

Leading Aussie Griffin said:  “I feel like I played two really solid rounds of golf. It’s the right place to be. I think you keep the intensity high.

“There’s a bit of a bonus for winning the strokeplay, so ideally you want to be first and that will give you probably the best path through hopefully on Sunday.

“The leaderboard’s really tight, so you’re going to have to play good golf tomorrow to make sure you get through it.

“It’s not going to be a walk in the park. But you do, given the circumstances, you do take a little bit more notice of those holes that will be there on Sunday.”

Panuphol Pittayarat is looking to make it a second Thai winner in two years in Perth after Kiradech Aphibarnrat’s win in 2018.

He said: “Seven birdies and one bogey, obviously I’m very happy with the round.

“The main thing was I putted really well and I kept my ball in play. I hit well yesterday as well, but I didn’t hole as much as today.

“So the key was on the greens. I told my caddie on Wednesday, we were very lucky to play first off in the afternoon yesterday and first off today.

“I wouldn’t say it would be easier, but playing with the less wind is always better.

“I still push myself every shot every day, I still stick to my routine and see what happens.”

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