Fan favourite Andrew 'Beef' Johnston edges ahead at halfway mark in Austria

After an injury-plagued few years, the Englishman is making his tenth start of the campaign on a medical exemption, after being limited to just 17 appearances across the last three seasons.

Boosted by a run of four consecutive made cuts, including a top-15 finish in Belgium last week, Johnston carded a bogey-free second-round 62 – his lowest score since the Scottish Open in 2019 – to reach 11 under through the opening two days at Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith.

Calum Hill overtook Johnston with a brilliant front nine of 29, but the Scot was unable to maintain his electric start as bogeys at two of his final three holes on the tougher back nine saw him drop into a three-strong group tied for second at ten under alongside Rafa Cabrera Bello and Kota Kaneko.

Last year, it was revealed Johnston had a complete ligament tear and a partial tear in two other tendons in his thumb after a series of earlier misdiagnoses.

Since a 73 on the opening day at the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship in Spain earlier this month, the fan favourite, affectionately known as 'Beef', has now shot under par in his subsequent nine rounds.

A decade on from his one and only DP World Tour title to date, Johnston birdied the 12th before a hat-trick of gains from the 15th saw him reach seven under for his opening nine holes on Friday.

At that stage, he was still a shot adrift of first-round leader Yanhan Zhou but he then birdied the first and second before adding further gains on the sixth and ninth saw him set the clubhouse target.

"Just hit a lot of good shots," he said. "The putter got a bit hot, which I've been trying to do now for six months.

"You know, when putts start dropping, it's a good day."

Crediting yoga as a catalyst behind his recent resurgence, the Australian-based 37-year-old added: "With the injury I looked at stuff that I could personally sort of be better at and I started going back into the gym and I felt really compressed.

"There's a nice little coffee shop in Perth next door and there's a yoga place next door and I was like, 'do you know what? I'm just going to wander in and have a look in, ask a few questions' and I found this yoga teacher and she has been brilliant."

First-round leader Yanhan Zhou of China, the DP World Tour's youngest member this season, is in a six-way share of fifth place after a level-par 70, with last year's runner-up Marcel Schneider, Brandon Robinson Thompson, Tobias Jonsson and French pair Alexander Levy and Tom Vaillant at eight under.