Gallacher and Waring share the lead in Madrid

Scotsman Stephen Gallacher and England's Paul Waring share the lead after the second round of the Open de Espana, while local favourite Jon Rahm is in the hunt heading into the weekend.

Waring had lead the way for much of the second round as he shot his way to an eight-under round of 63, which included 10 birdies and two bogeys.

However he was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Gallacher who fired a second successive 65 to finish the day on -12.

Gallacher's round included seven birdies and just one bogey – on his opening hole.

Despite his fine start to the tournament, Gallacher is still searching for improvement this weekend."

You are always working to improve and we just worked on my backswing," he said.

"It's also been a different way of thinking as I've been working with my psychologist as well, just freeing myself up and just swinging at it.

"Halfway, you've done not a bad job and now you need to do the same again. You've got some great players playing. "The weather has been perfect, and the course is in unbelievable condition, so you can shoot a low score. We'll just see what happens. If I can play the same over the weekend, who knows."

Rahm, meanwhile, is among a group of players who are two shots behind the clubhouse leaders.

The Spaniard struggled in the early going but found his stride on the back nine and eventually signed for a round of 68.

Elsewhere Niall Kearney is the best of the Irish after his second consecutive round of 69 left him on -4, while Jonathan Caldwell and Paul Dunne both just slipped inside the cut line, finishing the day on -2 to stick around for the weekend.