ENGLAND’S Ashley Chesters held the clubhouse lead after day two of the weather-affected Porsche European Open in Hamburg.

There were also three Scots – Stephen Gallacher, Richie Ramsay and Craig Lee – in the top 12 on the leaderboard last night, although some of those above them had not completed their second rounds when play was suspended due to fading light.

Chesters and fellow Englishman Jordan Smith were tied at the top on eight under par when a second heavy downpour of the day forced play to be halted due to a waterlogged course. When it resumed almost four hours later, Smith bogeyed his final hole of the day – the ninth – and Chesters picked up a shot at the eighth on his way to 67.

That gave the 27-year-old a nine-under-par halfway total and one-shot lead over Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman (66), with Smith a shot further back after his own 67.

“I definitely didn’t hit it as well off the tee today but the putter made up for a lot, so that’s always nice,” said Chesters, who turned professional after helping Great Britain and Ireland to a record Walker Cup victory at Royal Lytham in 2015, where he won three-and-a-half points from his four matches. The world No 446 gained his European Tour card via the qual-ifying school in 2016. He has missed seven cuts in 14 events this season, but had a best finish to date of joint eighth in the Hassan Trophy.

“[Leading] is a completely new experience so tomorrow is going to be totally new to me,” Chesters added. “The whole year has been a learning experience really so hopefully I’ll learn something again tomorrow, whatever happens. I’m loving the course and playing good so have just got to go into the weekend and give it my best. I had a good year last year and the target for this time was just to keep my tour card. I managed to do that pretty quickly, so the next aim is to win an event.”

All three Scots were on six under par. Ramsay had the best round of the trio with a 68. He said: “It was tough at times with those two heavy showers that came in but I played solid.

“My chipping and putting were good, which was really pleasing.

Jimmy Walker and Thorbjorn Olesen played well which made it good for the group – we sort of pulled each other along.”

Lee and Gallacher both carded 70s, with the latter picking up a disappointing bogey at the last. He said: “It’s been going well. It’s just a shame about the delays and the bogey at the last there, but apart from that I’m really happy with the day. I’m playing pretty good.

“It was good to play links the last couple of weeks, I really enjoyed that. I grew up playing it and we don’t play it very often but I’m starting to hit the ball well so we’ll see what happens.”

Among those held back by the weather were Alexander Levy, Stuart Manley and Richard McEvoy. The trio were all on eight under with varying number of holes to complete when play resumed at 8am today.