Gaunt Hits The Front - 23/12/2007

A SECOND round of 67 from Daniel Gaunt has seen him move into the lead at -5 in The Peugeot International at Marriott Hollins Hall.

The Australian was sat on -1 overnight but produced six birdies on Thursday to move out to five-under-par.

The Wildwood golfer, who has twice finished second on the PGA EuroPro Tour this year, is looking to build on that to secure victory on Friday.

"I got off to a pretty shaky start with a bogey at the first but I played well from there onwards and I'll take that going into tomorrow," said Gaunt.

"It is a tough course but it's about hitting it in the right spot on the greens and then making the putt. You have to putt well and think your way around."

He added: "I am used to the pressure but it's about time I went one better! I'm getting sick of coming second so hopefully I'll pull it off tomorrow."

Gaunt is a shot clear of Erewash Valley's Mark Smith, who shot a second successive round of 69 to move to -4, a shot ahead of Robert McGuirk, who produced an excellent 66 on Thursday, and Chris Sands.

Emerging star Lee Gauthier has put pressure on the leaders during his second round, moving out to -4 after 32 holes.

A 77 from overnight leader Ben Banks has seen him slip to +2 for the tournament.

A further update will be issued later on Thursday.