Lowry improves by nine shots but Hidalgo man to catch

Shane Lowry may have improved nine shots on his opening effort with a classy round of 66 - but home hope Angel Hidalgo extended his lead at the acciona Open de Espana presented by Madrid.

Hidalgo followed his opening 65 with a 67 on day two to move four shots clear of second-placed Englishman Joe Dean, whose 65 contained five birdies, two eagles – including a chip-in at the fourth – and three bogeys.

Sam Bairstow was a shot further back on five under – tied for third with three-time champion Jon Rahm, United States Ryder Cup player Patrick Reed, Frenchman Julien Guerrier and another Spaniard in Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, while the luckless Tommy Fleetwood was four under.

Fleetwood opened with three birdies in the first five holes, but the momentum was sapped from his round after his tee-shot at the ninth struck the pin and rebounded 50 feet, leading to a three-putt bogey – he made just one birdie and one bogey the rest of the way.

Hidalgo, who made five birdies with just a solitary dropped shot, said: "Yesterday I was completely blind, I was just hitting the ball and I don't know why it was directly to the pin. But today I played really good."

Lowry, frustratingly, was birdie-free on Thursday in a miserable 75 but the Offalyman found five birdies today and didn't drop a single shot as he fired himself into a tie for 23rd on one-under-par overall.

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