Atwal was going great guns with four birdies and no bogeys till the 17th at which point he made his only mistake of the day for the solitary bogey and ended with a card of three-under 67 to make a big move on the second day.

Following a 69 he was placed 39th in the first round and has now moved to 21st. David Toms shot a second successive 62 and opened up a seven-shot lead. Both his rounds have been bogey free and he is way ahead in the four-man bunch in the second place.

The second placed group includes Charlie Wi (64-67), Steve Bowditch (67-64), Mark Wilson (65-66), John Senden (65-66).

Toms' second round could have easily been below 60. Besides a birdie miss at 18, he misread a 10-footer at the 13th, misread an 18-footer at 14 and saw a nine-footer at the 16th run out of steam