Belgium’s Thomas Pieters has jumped to to the top of the leaderboard at the D+D REAL Czech masters on Saturday, overcoming a two-stroke penalty halfway through the round when he played the wrong ball on the 11th.
The 23-year-old finished the round with a 65, which would have been a 63 had he not played his second shot from the rough on the 11th with another player’s ball, while his sat untouched just a few yards away.
But he wrapped around it an eagle on his opening hole followed by a birdie, then three more birdies on 8-10, and two more on 14 and 16.
He’s 17-under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Sweden’s Pelle Edberg, who had five birdies among his first 12 holes and finished with a 67.
While he’s four strokes back of the lead, Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen had the definitive shot of the day, a 68-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to that got him to 67 and 13-under. Matthew Fitzpatrick, the Day 2 co-leader, is at 12-under after struggling with a 71.
