First European Tour title in sight as Southgate, Antcliff share lead ahead of final day in Hamburg

Maverick Antcliff and Matthew Southgate both have designs on clinching a first European Tour title on Monday as they share the lead at five under par heading into the final day of the European Open in Hamburg.

Antcliff enjoyed a particularly impressive second round at the Green Eagle Golf Courses on Sunday as he shot a four-under 68, one better than Southgate, to haul himself into contention at the top.

Both men were understandably flowing with confidence afterwards, with Southgate suggesting his excellence off the tee has been decisive.

"The fairways are narrow for everyone and I've thought for a while that I'm one of the best drivers of the ball in the world, so [I'm] just trying to have positive thoughts, let it go, don't steer it from the tee and it's worked through 36 holes," Englishman Southgate told the European Tour.

"There's a lot of power players out here and when you play with guys who hit it 20-30 yards offline and they can get away with it, it's tough to compete, but when the rough is up and the bunkers are there and the fairways are narrow, I think it makes it a level playing field and your skill sets have got to stand up to the test."

Firing himself up, Australian Antcliff said: "I'm hitting fairways, greens – if you get a good number or angle, take advantage of it.

"Keep doing the same. Good golf gets you into good positions, keep doing that, good results happen."

Thomas Detry led after the first round on Saturday with a 68 of his own, but the Belgian was unable to follow that up with another sub-par outing as he carded a one-over 73, with bogeys on the first two holes and a double-bogey on the 10th difficult to recover from.

Nevertheless, Detry is one of six players within two shots of Southgate and Antcliff, though of them all Edoardo Molinari will be the most confident of usurping the leaders.

The Italian enjoyed the best round of the tournament so far with a glorious seven-under 65 that included seven birdies and an eagle, making his disappointing 75 from the previous day a distant memory as he moved to four under for the tournament alongside Dutchman Darius van Driel and Scotland's Scott Jamieson and David Law.