Ramsay leads at Crans-sur-Sierre halfway point

Ramsay

Ramsay, the 2012 champion, went into Friday's action level on eight-under par with Molinari after both players carded superb rounds of 62 on day one.

However, the duo experienced contrasting fortunes in the second round, as Ramsay shot 66 to move to 12 under, while Molinari struggled to a par score of 70 - which leaves him four strokes off the pace in tied eighth.

Scotsman Ramsay - who played the stunningly picturesque Swiss course in wet conditions early on Friday - indicated that the rain made a repeat of his flawless opening-round 62 impossible.

"Today was a little bit tougher, especially on the back nine, where some of the pins were very tricky," the world number 177 explained.

"The rain made life a bit trickier and the temperature also dropped, which made distance control difficult, so it was definitely harder than yesterday."

Ramsay's closest challenger is now Jamie Donaldson, after the Welshman - who is in Europe's Ryder Cup team for Gleneagles later this month - went one better than his opening-day 65.

Donaldson was on course to overhaul Ramsay when he strung together a front-nine score of 31, but had to settle for second place after again bogeyed the 12th.

Second rounds of 65 and 66 respectively saw Brooks Koepka and Graeme Storm tie for third on 10 under at the halfway point, while Shane Lowry, Gareth Maybin and David Lipsky - who climbed 23 places on the leaderboard thanks to a score of 64 on Friday - sit a shot further back.

A Ryder Cup team-mate of Donaldson, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, slipped to eight under along with Tommy Fleetwood, while Marc Warren heads into the weekend on the same score after a brilliant 63 saw him surge 45 places up the standings.

Meanwhile, reigning champion Thomas Bjorn is now 10 shots off the pace after a disappointing two-over round of 72. 

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