May 18, 2018: Jorge Campillo set the clubhouse target on day two as the weekend began to take shape at the inaugural Belgian Knockout at Rinkven International Golf Club.
In an innovative new format on the European Tour, the top 64 players after 36 holes of stroke play will advance to a nine-hole stroke play knockout, with the winner being crowned on Sunday after a total of 90 holes.
Spaniard Campillo carded a second consecutive 67 to get to eight under and secure his place over the weekend with room to spare, but a host of players faced an anxious wait to see if they would be heading home.
The top 16 players on Friday night will be handed a seeding, meaning that if they finish on the same score as their opponent in the first knockout round, they will advance to the last-32.
Home hero Thomas Detry, Australian Dimitrios Papadatos, Frenchman Victor Perez and Dane Jeff Winther were all well placed for a seeding, with all the players from the morning wave that were under par on course to make the weekend.
Campillo is looking for his first European Tour win but has four top fives in his last six appearances and he brought that form with him to Antwerp.
He entered the day in a seven-way tie for the lead and was still in a share as he turned in 34 from the tenth, but he really found his form on the front nine. Birdies on the first and second moved him two shots clear and a wonderful approach to the fourth had him in control.
Playing partner Detry recovered from a bogey on the tenth with birdies on the 12th, fifth and eighth – the latter courtesy of a stunning approach to three feet.
Winther had closed within one shot of the lead thanks to birdies on the tenth, 17th and fifth but a bogey on the eighth saw him slip back.
Papadatos won last week on the Challenge Tour and he maintained that momentum, birdieing the eighth, 13th, 16th and 17th in a bogey-free effort.
Perez also plys his trade on the Challenge Tour and he started with a bogey but birdied the 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th and eighth.
England’s Matthew Baldwin, Australian Nick Cullen, Italian Lorenzo Gagli and Spaniard Adrian Otaegui were all at five under, a shot clear of Thai Jazz Janewattananond and South Africa’s Justin Walters.
French duo Grégory Havret and Thomas Linard, New Zealander Josh Geary and England’s Oliver Fisher were three under, one ahead of another Englishman in Matthew Southgate and local favourite Thomas Pieters.
The tournament host bounced back from an opening bogey with birdies on the 12th, 14th, 16th and 18th but birdies on the first and third left him looking anxiously over his shoulder once more. He holed a long putt n the fourth to get back to level par and further gains on the fifth and seventh had him safe.
England’s Nathan Kimsey and South Korean Rak-hyun Cho were then at one under, with 12 players in the clubhouse at level par facing an anxious wait to see if they would definitely advance or potentially face a play-off.
European Tour Release
