Open de Espana R2 scores: Marco Penge leads, Jon Rahm battles back in Madrid

Marco Penge will take a one-shot lead into the weekend of the Open de Espana as major champions Patrick Reed and Jon Rahm made big moves on day two in Madrid.

Penge, currently third on the Race to Dubai behind Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton, added a bogey-free 67 to his opening 66 to hit the front on 9-under par, although the Englishman awarded himself only "7 out of 10" for his performance.

"Very patient day, nice to have a bogey-free round," said Penge. "I played pretty solid, still a couple of bits there that I can improve on but all in all it was a steady round of golf.

"I think if you're not patient, it's going to catch you out. It's so tricky and a little bit fiddly and if you're not fully focused or concentrating over every shot, you're going to make bogeys.

"I wasn't really focusing on my score out there, it was mainly just to stay as patient as I could and see what the round gives me. I finished with two birdies there, when you are patient you do get rewarded so I did get that today."

Jeff Winther, Joel Girrbach and Aaron Cockerill share second place after 36 holes, while former Masters champion Reed will have his eyes on the prize as he targets his first win on the DP World Tour since February, 2020.

Reed also fired a 67 which including a superb eagle at the long fourth, although his position could have been better had he not run up an ugly bogey-6 at the long 7th following a blocked drive into the trees.

Former European Ryder Cup star Thorbjorn Olesen is among the group on 6-under, with Rahm now just five shots behind the leader after a vast improvement from his first-round 72.

The home favourite, making his first start since playing a pivotal role in Europe's Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage Black last month, began day two flirting with the cut line.

But the two-time major champion delighted the locals with a run of four birdies in five holes, but he was blowing hot under the collar after bad mistakes led to bogeys at the 9th and 10th.

Rahm was furious with himself for slipping back to 1-under having undone much of his earlier good work, but he managed to keep his temper reigned in and produced a strong finish with birdies at two of the last three holes capping an impressive 66.

Ryder Cup record points scorer Sergio Garcia looked to be heading for an early exit when he slumped to 3-over par with just six holes of his second round to play, with the projected cut at level par.

But the Spaniard holed a 20-footer for eagle at the 4th - his 13th - and added another couple of birdies to salvage a 70 and scrape into the weekend with a shot to spare.

Rahm's playing-partner and Bethpage team-mate Shane Lowry, however, was not so fortunate. The Irishman was way out of sorts in his opening 75 and, although he recovered to fire a 68 on Friday, that was one too many to make the cut.

Lowry had given himself a chance to play another 36 holes when he got to 4-under for the day after 15 holes, but he missed a short putt for par at the 16th and was unable to get the shot back over the final two holes.