Ross Fisher's flawless round puts him in contention at Soudal Open

Fisher carded a second round of 63 at Rinkven International for a halfway total of 13 under par, with Spain's Nacho Elvira setting the pace on 14 under after a second successive 64.

Both players have yet to drop a shot on the tight, tree-lined layout, despite Friday's second round being played in miserable conditions.

"It was a great day," said former Ryder Cup player Fisher, who won the last of his five DP World Tour titles to date in the Tshwane Open in 2014.

"We were quite lucky with the weather, we got nine holes of decent weather, wasn't any breeze and no rain and I played pretty steady on the back nine, our front nine.

"Then strung together four birdies in a row which was very nice and then unfortunately the showers started on the front nine so that made it a little tricky.

"I was kind of battling away, made some good par saves on two, three and four and then the last few holes played really, really tough.

"They were long and wet and cold but nice to sign off with that long putt for birdie (on the ninth) and go and put my feet up and wait for tomorrow.

"Delighted to go bogey-free. I played nicely yesterday, had to hole one putt for par from maybe 10 feet because I was out of position off the tee but barring that I've played very steady.

"Hit it pretty good off the tee, some nice shots into the greens and it's nice to finally see all the hard work pay off on the greens. Hopefully it will continue on the weekend."

Elvira, who won the Cazoo Open at Celtic Manor in 2021, said: "I'm very, very happy. It was a quite similar round to yesterday, I think I played very consistent and I putted really well so I'm extremely happy.

"It's a course that I like, it suits my eye off the tee maybe a little better than other courses and I'm lucky enough to be putting well so hopefully I can take advantage."

France's Romain Langasque lies three shots off the lead on 11 under, while New Zealand's Sam Jones, who made an albatross in his opening 62, added a second round of 70 to share fourth place on 10 under.