Mazzoli and Bjerregaard tied at the top in Catalunya

Stefano Mazzoli and Lucas Bjerregaard both credited a different approach to their individual games as they head into the weekend tied at the top of the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship leaderboard on 11-under-par.

While he’s yet to crack the top 20 on Tour it was rookie Mazzoli, who secured promotion to the DP World Tour by a top eight finish on the 2025 Road to Mallorca Rankings, that set the early target on Friday with a bogey free 67.

Having opened with a 66, the Italian made a quick start to the second round with back-to-back birdies from the first before converting an impressive approach to the fifth hole for a third gain of the day.

What followed was a remarkable run of 11 straight pars before a birdie-birdie finish led him to set the pace, nearly chipping in for eagle at the last as the rest of the field endeavoured to catch him.

For Mazzoli, who has missed seven of his last nine cuts, there was a sense of relief that he was able to keep his demeanour calm and in control after struggling with that particular element of the game.

“I am pretty pleased with how I played today, and yesterday, I am really relieved in how I was able to keep calm on the course and control myself,” he said after his round.

“I wasn’t really able to do that the past few weeks and that was how you step up and the most important thing for me.

“I am changing a little bit technically, but to be honest just attitude and thinking a different way, being more positive and all that comes with that. Obviously, I am changing a couple things because when things don’t go your way, you look for something different, but I think the attitude and how I stayed on the course was the biggest change this week. I struggled a little bit at first and for me it is just proving to myself that I am good enough.”

Stefano Mazzoli shoots a bogey-free 67 in his second round 🔥

It follows an opening day 66, his lowest round on the DP World Tour since November.#EDCC2026
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 8, 2026

'TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF'

Bjerregaard was also quick to credit a different mental approach as he matched Mazzoli with his own final hole birdie to cap off a second round 67.

Playing in just his third DP World Tour event of the season the two time DP World Tour winner, who finished 145^th on last year’s Race to Dubai Rankings presented by DP World, has admittedly struggled over the past few years but looked fairly comfortable as he chased down the lead on day two.

The Dane opened his second round with a birdie at the tenth and parred the next six holes before ending his front nine with back-to-back birdies and adding a third in a row at the first to start his back nine.

"It did," he said when asked if that moment changed the feeling of the round.

"I'd hit some poor shots before that, and then 16 I hit a couple of good shots, made par, and then a couple of good shots on 17, and a couple of poor iron shots on 18 and one after great drives, but luckily got them up and down for birdies, so that helped."

Two holes later he converted an 18-footer for birdie on the 12th to join the top, narrowly missing a chance to gain the outright lead from the fringe of the 14th.

A mistake with his approach to the 17^th left him unable to get up and down for back from behind the green, but a birdie on the final hole of his round helped him to match Mazzoli and take a share of the 36-hole lead.

"There was a couple of stressful situations I put myself in, but other than that, I gave myself a lot of good looks and putted nicely and took advantage of the chances I had. So yeah, it's nice. It's been a while since I've been on top of the leaderboard, but yeah, that's always nice."

Reflecting on his round and his general approach to this year, Bjerregaard said he was trying to take the pressure off himself as he searches for his first win since the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

"I'm trying to take a little different approach to it this year and take it a little more as it comes. I've been stressing a lot about golf for the last many years, and I'm trying to be a bit... I'm not really sure how to put it, but just take everything a little bit lighter and go, yeah, as we go.

"I mean, I think that's the thing I've figured out about golf in the last five years is that, you know, it was good today, it was good yesterday, but you never know about tomorrow, you never know about next week. So I'm kind of not trying to put too much on these last couple of rounds, but I'm obviously very happy to be where I am and hopefully that can continue for a couple more days."

A shot behind the pair at the top is South African Yurav Premlall, who carded the lowest round of his DP World Tour career with an eight-under-par 64 to head into the weekend on 10-under.

Yurav Premlall shoots his lowest round on the DP World Tour with a bogey-free 64! 🔥#EDCC
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) May 8, 2026

Premlall, whose best finish so far this season is a tie for 31st at the Hero Indian Open, said he is taking it one step at a time rather than trying to think of what's at stake.

"It was very good, very solid,," he said afterwards.

"I just kept hitting a lot of quality shots throughout the whole day. Quite a slow start but just managed to hang in there for the first six holes, and stuck to my game plan quite well, gave myself plenty of chances and the putter got warm for the first time in a while, so nice to see the score on the board today.

"I was very happy with the finish, it was very solid the whole day like I said, just stayed patient and eventually the score came to me. We all know what is at stake. There is a lot at stake for me and the position I am in, so I am not really looking at that, just one shot at a time trying to stick to the process throughout the next 36 holes and see what will happen from there."

JC Ritchie, who also carded a second-round 64, lies a shot further back on nine-under-par alongside Ricardo Gouveia.