HotelPlanner Tour : Grand Final
Julien Sale produced a back nine birdie blitz on his way to a second round -7 65 to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend of the Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada.
The Frenchman mixed ten birdies with three dropped shots on Friday in Alcúdia to reach -13 at the halfway stage, one shot ahead of Dutchman Lars van der Vight.
The Grand Final is the 28th and final event on the HotelPlanner Tour’s 2026 Road to Mallorca schedule, with the 45-man field competing for one of 15 DP World Tour cards on offer.
"Today was a great round, and I cannot believe I made ten birdies," he said.
"I’ve been playing really well and managed to make a couple of putts which was nice. I had a couple of mistakes, but the birdies were there."
Sale is assured of promotion to the DP World Tour following a fine campaign which has included a breakthrough victory and five further top ten finishes. After taking charge in Mallorca, Sale is now projected to top the season-long Rankings and become the first Frenchman to achieve the feat since Mike Lorenzo-Vera 19 years ago.
Van der Vight also showed his fire power on Friday, matching Sale’s effort with a bogey-free 65 of his own, helping him to -12 and solo second.
Overnight leader Joseba Torres also kept pace with a -4 effort meaning he’s one back of the Dutchman on -11 under. The Spaniard, who has uncle José María Olazábal mentoring him this week, requires a sixth place finish to keep his hopes of promotion to Golf’s Global Tour alive.
American John Catlin holds solo fourth on -10 one stroke clear of England’s Matthew Southgate and South African MJ Daffue, -9
The third round of the Grand Final will get under way from 10:38am on Saturday, with Sale teeing off alongside Van der Vight and Torres at 12:02pm.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
