Matthias Schwab eagled the first at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal on his way to a 12-under total at the halfway mark in the Turkish Airlines Open. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

MATTHIAS Schwab maintained his position at the top of the Turkish Airlines Open leaderboard after another low-scoring day at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal.

But America’s Patrick Reed, who received a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup overnight, clearly took inspiration from his phone call with United States captain Tiger Woods.

Reed – nicknamed Captain America after his heroic performances in his Ryder Cup debut at Hazletine in 2016 – carded a seven-under par 65 to move to nine-under, just three strokes behind Schwab.

“It means so much to me,” said Reed. “Representing our country and wearing red, white and blue is something I absolutely love and am so proud of.

“To be able to go out and get a pick, especially from captain Woods, was amazing,” added the 2018 Masters Champion.

“The big thing, and what I always was preaching, as well as what he was telling all the guys is, hey, go out and play good golf.

“Playing well takes care of everything. I was able to do that this last couple months. I was able to get on the right side and get the game in form and play the way I’m supposed to be playing.

“And because of that, I was lucky enough to be able to get a pick. Now the big thing is now that I’ve got a pick is go out and try to earn points for captain and go bring back the cup.”

Austrian Schwab started the day in a share of the lead at the sixth Rolex Series event of the 2019 Race to Dubai.

But after the redraw for the second round, a number of golfers quickly made their move up the leaderboard – with 10 competitors finishing the day on 10-under par or better by the close of play.

Schwab, who got off to a fast start picking up two shots at the first, said: “I wasn’t really hitting them great at all, especially early on but kept it together.

“Obviously the start was good with an eagle on the first hole, but then it was not very nice to watch I think.

“The long game wasn’t on but I managed to make a few good pars. On the back nine I found my swing a little bit and made a few good birdies coming home.

“Every made putt is important. I had a few good par saves on the previous holes, too, but the one on nine kept the round going a little bit.

“And then the back nine it was a little bit better. I just gave myself a few more looks on the back nine than the front nine.

“It was just keeping it together and I made a few good pars, especially on nine where I hit it on in the water off the tee and scrambled to make par.

“Then on the back nine I was better with my long game. I had a few good looks and was able to make some.”

Twenty-four-year-old Schwab leads the standings in the highest number of top 10 finishes on the European Tour this season, with nine.

Schwab has five top 10s in his last eight starts, including a share of fourth place finishes at the Italian Open, and his debut World Golf Championships appearance at last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

He birdied the last to move to 12-under, one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry, who finished third at this event last year, former Wentworth member Ross Fisher and two-time Rolex Series winners Alex Noren and Danny Willett.

Willett has two Rolex Series wins under his belt after his victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in September.

The 2016 Masters Champion was happier with his performance in round two.

“A lot better than yesterday,” said Willett. “Real solid. Didn’t really give ourselves too many silly things. Had a couple of three-putts in there which was slightly annoying, but a nice score to build on over the weekend.

“We’re making some good moves. Trying to keep doing the same. Golf course is there for the taking.

“Going to see a lot of low scores. You’ve just got to hope that someone doesn’t go too crazy over the weekend and hope you’re still in there with a shout with 18 or nine to play,” Willett added.

“I said at the beginning of the week, it could be at least 20-under par winning this tournament – and it’s right on track for that.

“You just have to keep your foot down and keep trying at birdies and see what you can do.”

Noren is looking for his first win since last year’s French Open at Le Paris National, where he made his Ryder Cup debut two months later.

Noren said “On the front nine, I played the best I can play pretty much, and the back nine, I had a lot of chances.

“The short game kind of went on me a little bit. I’m happy with 11-under total. See what the weekend has.

“Yesterday, I played probably the best I’ve played, and today the front nine was amazing. So I take out a lot of positives.

“You know, if somebody said you get 11-under after two days, I’d take it. I just have to refocus and not think of what it could have been today – but that’s how it is.”

Defending champion Justin Rose, who is bidding to become just the fourth golfer to win a regular European Tour event three years in a row, shares sixth place with four others on 10-under.

•To follow live scoring in the third round of the Turkish Airlines Open, click here.

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Matthias Schwab birdied the last at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal to tie Tom Lewis at the top of the first round leaderboard in the Turkish Airlines Open. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

HERTFORDSHIRE’S Tom Lewis and Matthias Schwab share a one-shot lead fter a low scoring opening day in the Turkish Airlines Open at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal.

Perfect conditions greeted the leading players on the 2019 Race to Dubai as they gathered in Antalya for the sixth Rolex Series event of the season.

And it was former British Boys Champion Lewis and Schwab who took the most advantage of the conditions, carding rounds of 65 to get to seven-under par.

Austrian Schwab has nine top 10s so far this season, including two top fives in his last three events at the Italian Open – his best finish in a Rolex Series event – and on his debut at the WGC-HSBC Champions, in Shanghai, last week.

Lewis’ two European Tour wins have both come at the Portugal Masters and the Welwyn Garden City member birdied six of his last seven holes to rocket up the leaderboard.

But 28-year-old Lewis was a recent winner in the USA , claiming the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, at Indiana’s Victoria National GC, in September, to earn his PGA Tour card for 2020.

And that form followed him across the Atlantic to Belek. Lewis said: “I just holed the putts.

“I felt like I wasn’t comfortably rolling it on the front nine, even though I hit some good shots.

“On the back nine I continued to hit good shots, and I felt more confident on putts,” said Lewis who was in the same Walker Cup team that faced America at Royal Aberdeen in 2011, as Steven Brown, the winner at this last month’s Portugal Masters.

“That’s going to be the difference this week between the guy that wins and the guys that don’t,” added Lewis, who also won the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy at the Home of Golf in 2011, before going on to lead the Open at Royal St George’s as an amateur on the first day that summer.

“I think he’s going to get good breaks, he’s going to roll it well,” said Lewis, who hails from the same club where Nick Faldo became the country’s top teenage talent, in the mid 1970s.

Schwab made the quicker start of the two leaders before catching Lewis on the 18th with his ?? birdie of the day.

“It was a very good round for me,” said Schwab. “I got off to a nice start – five-under through eight and managed to keep the momentum going on the back nine.

“I was hitting it nicely today and made a few putts, so overall it was a good day for me.

“I’m just trying to give it my best. Every time I tee it up, it seems to be working well the last few months, but I have no recipe.”

The leaders have an elite chasing pack behind them, with Ryder Cup stars Alex Noren, from Sweden, and Belgian Thomas Pieters just a shot further back at six-under, alongside the USA’s two-time European Tour winner David Lipsky.

Hampshire’s two-time defending champion Justin Rose finished with three birdies in a row.

He sits at five-under alongside Yorkshire’s double Rolex Series tournament winner Danny Willett, Belgian Thomas Detry, Frenchman Benjamin Hebert, Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Dutchman Joost Luiten.

Noren, who has struggled to find the form that earned him a Ryder Cup debut at Le Golf National, said: “I hit it well off the tee, especially after hole three, four onwards – I played really well.

“I got a lot out of my driver, which helped on the back nine, and especially on the two par fives. Just felt like an easier round than a lot of other rounds this year.

“The focus is there, definitely, and I think my game has gotten a lot better the last few months. I’m just trying to kind of put all the parts of the game together, which I did today.”

Pieters who made his debut in the big defeat by the USA at Hazeltine, in 2016, is also looking to rekindle the form that brought him an 11th housr win in the Czech Republic to earn a wildcard from European captain Darren Clarke three years ago.

“It felt lovely,” said Pieters who made a birdie at the first from the sand.

“After two weeks off, it’s nice to start like that, holing the bunker shot on the first.

“I was really striking it well with the irons, maybe not as good off the tee, but my putter bailed me out a couple times for par as well.

“All in all, very pleased. The game is in good shape. Putting well, hitting my irons very well. So maybe some work on the driving and we’ll be good.”

Lipsky said: “It’s the lowest round I’ve shot in a while and to go out there and play as solidly as I did gives me a lot of confidence going forward.

“The season has been up-and-down. I played really well in spots. Played really poorly in spots.

“I missed five, six, seven cuts in a row or something like that. It’s been up-and-down, but I feel like the game’s turning around and getting a bit of consistency back.

“I look forward to the last three events,” added Lipsky, whose last win came at last year’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, nearly a year ago.

Rose is looking to join the Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam as the only players to win a regular European Tour event three years’ running.

The North Hants GC member who birdied the last three holes said: “I guess job done. The hot finish was exactly what we needed.

“I was aware of the leaderboard. Obviously, it was a perfect day to play golf as it normally is here in Turkey, and I could see the lads got in low.

“Our group was having some frustrations – just trying to make the birdies, certainly make the putts.”

Rose added: “As the sun got low, you could kind of see what you’re facing and it’s difficult to trust your reads coming in.

“I managed to wiggle in there the last few holes, so delighted with the score, really, more than anything.”

•For live scoring from the Turkish Airlines Open click here.

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Alex Noren has fond memories of Le Golf National after holing a monster putt to get in the play-off last year – and then hole a monster putt in the Ryder Cup singles three months later. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

ALEX Noren returns to a venue full of incredible memories as he aims to defend his Amundi Open de France title this week.

The Swede claimed a one-shot win at Paris’ Le Golf National in July last year.

And more glory was to follow three months later as he made a memorable Ryder Cup debut, which included one of the greatest moments of his career.

With team victory assured and the celebrations going on around him, Noren holed a monster putt for a birdie on the last to beat Bryson DeChambeau one-up to put the gloss on a 17½-10½ triumph for Europe.

Noren said: “It was an amazing week last year. I just made the cut and then had a great weekend.

“I didn’t think I was even going to get into a play-off with the score I had, I thought I had to make the putt on the last, that long putt.

“I just missed it, but then it was pretty tough coming in for the rest of the guys and I ended up winning. I felt very fortunate.

“The putt on 18 at the Ryder Cup was amazing, maybe the best moment of my golfing career.

“I know the whole match was over, but my game was still going and the coaches and captains had told us to keep going until the end of every match.

“It just felt great to finish my game like that and it ended up being the finish of the whole match.”

The 10-time European Tour winner is joined in the field this week by double Major champion Martin Kaymer.

The former World No. 1 has played in every edition of this event since turning professional, and counts the 2009 Open de France among his 11 European Tour titles.

“I think it’s one of the best golf courses that we play on the European Tour,” said the 2010 USPGA and 2015 US Open Champion.

“We used to play on a different date for the last 12 years or so that I have been here, so this week it will be a little different.

“My win in 2009 was a very enjoyable week in many ways. I was very in control of my game.

The German, who broke through with his first European Challenge Tour win back in 2006, said: “I had so much support during that week and I was playing really well.

“The week after I also won in Loch Lomond at the Scottish Open, so it was a really nice time for me.

“It was always one of those tournaments that you would like to win in your career, and fortunately I could win it fairly early in my career.”

Noren and Kaymer will face a strong local challenge around the famously testing Albatros Course this week, with the three in-form Frenchmen inside the top 25 of the Race to Dubai Rankings.

They are Benjamin Hebert, Victor Perez – the recent winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links – and former Amateur Champion Romain Langasque – all seeking to add gloss to impressive seasons with victory on home soil.

•To follow live scoring at Le Paris National click here

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