Guanajuato, Mexico (SportsNetwork.com) - First-round co-leaders Peter Malnati and Casey Wittenberg carded matching 4-under 68s in Friday's second round and they continue to share the lead heading into the weekend at the El Bosque Mexico Championship.
The duo finished 36 holes at 11-under-par 133, one shot ahead of Kevin Tway. Malnati and Wittenberg have two wins each on the Web.com Tour. Malnati's last one came earlier this season at the Brasil Champions, while Wittenberg won both of his in 2012.
Tway is alone in third place at 10-under 134 following his 5-under 67 at El Bosque Country Club. Chase Wright (67) and Luke List (69) sit two shots further back at minus-8.
Rob Oppenheim (66), Henrik Norlander (69), Smylie Kaufman (69) and Oliver Goss (70) finished the second round tied for sixth at 7-under 137.
Malnati began his round on the front nine and picked up right where he left on Thursday. The 27-year-old got off to a good start by draining a birdie at the first. Following three straight pars, Malnati poured in his second gain at the par-4 fifth.
Back-to-back birdies on eight and nine had Malnati rolling around the turn, but the back nine was not quite as kind.
After four straight pars from 10, Malnati traded his first bogey on 14 for a birdie on 15. He did the same thing with a bogey on 17 and a gain on 18. Malnati shot even-par on the back nine to finish the day at 4-under and remain tied atop the leaderboard.
"The only thing I did today that I regret is that I got pretty conservative on the greens," Malnati admitted. "I had a lot of putts where I was cautious of the wind and wound up leaving several putts short. I'd like to be a little more aggressive tomorrow and not be afraid of the wind and what it can do."
Wittenberg had a flawless day, which started on the back nine. He rolled in two birdies on 13 and 18 before making the turn at minus-2.
It was more of the same on the back side as the 30-year-old made six straight pars from No. 1 before finishing strong with birdies on seven and nine, completing his bogey-free round.
"My confidence has always been there. It's not like I'm searching for something I've never done before," Wittenberg said. "The driver's been good so far. I've played aggressive and we're going to keep it in the bag and keep whipping it to see how it goes."
Tway made three birdies over his first five holes before dropping a shot at the sixth. It was smooth sailing from there as Tway finished with gains on 11, 13 and 17 to card his second straight 67.
NOTES: Wittenberg was 13-under and held a 3-shot lead through two rounds at this event in 2011, but he finished tied for ninth ... Malnati currently sits atop the Web.com Tour money list with $164,607 ... The cut fell at even-par 144, with 68 players advancing to play the weekend.
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