Rafael and Ricardo in Czech stalemate

8/22/2008

A late show from the in-form Rafael Cabrera Bello saw the Spaniard join Portugal’s Ricardo Santos at the top of the leaderboard on day two of the Ypsilon Golf Challenge by Alex Cejka.

With his country in a state of mourning – Cabrera Bello hails from the Canary Islands, the intended destination of the plane which crash landed at Madrid Airport on Wednesday – the Spaniard was in understandably sombre mood at Ypsilon Golf Resort in Liberec, Czech Republic.

But he set about his task in typically professional fashion, plundering seven birdies in a round of 64 to join Santos on 11 under par.

Sometimes when you come to countries where golf isn’t very popular, you worry that the course might not be in great shape. But that’s definitely not the case here.”

Cabrera Bello’s round of 64 was matched by Santos, who put the pain of seven consecutive missed cuts firmly behind him.

Santos, who has two fourth place finishes to his name this season, has not earned a penny on the Challenge Tour since the Reale Challenge de
España in June. But seven birdies moved him to 11 under par, and put the 26 year old in with a great chance of claiming the lion’s share of the €180,000 on offer.  

One shot off the pace in a tie for third on ten under par are England’s Richard Bland, who shot a 65, Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli and Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin.

Earlier in the day, Finland’s Jaakko Makitalo and Germany’s Kariem Baraka both set new course records with flawless rounds of 63.

Leaderboard – Round 2:

1. Ricardo Santos                  POR  67 64 131 -11
    Rafael Cabrera Bello          ESP  67 64 131 -11
3. Gareth Maybin                   NIR  66 66 132 -10
    Lorenzo Gagli                    ITA  66 66 132 -10
    Richard Bland                    ENG  67 65 132 -10
6. Anthony Snobeck               FRA  68 65 133 - 9
    Seve Benson                     ENG  67 66 133 - 9
    Liam Bond                        WAL  66 67 133 - 9
    Kariem Baraka                  GER  70 63 133 - 9
    Thomas Feyrsinger            AUT  66 67 133 - 9

Source: European Tour