Matt Fitzpatrick leads Nordea Masters in Sweden

The Sheffield golfer fired a flawless seven under par round of 65 to take the lead in Sweden in an event he entered on invitation from sponsors.

And he says a desire to get plenty of time on the course led him to accept the chance to play in Stockholm.

“It was just a last minute scheduling thing for me,” Fitzpatrick said. “I felt like I needed to play a bit more.

“I knew from playing last year that it’s such a great event.

“Even though I didn’t need to play it, it was down on my schedule at the start of the year.

“It’s proved to be all right so far.

“Hopefully it’ll be two more days of good play and we’ll see.”

The 21-year-old has been on solid if not blistering form so far this year with a single top ten finish – in The Masters – to his name this season.

And he says his performance so far this week is much closer to the level he aims to play at.

Fitzpatrick said: “Any time you shoot seven birdies it’s always a good day.

“And when you manage to keep the bogeys off the card at the same time, it’s an even better day.

“I’ve struggled for a bit of form so far this year but this week has been much more like it.

“Hopefully I can keep it going.

“Any time you go into the weekend high on the leaderboard, you’re going to get excited.”

Fitzpatrick sits on -11 heading into Saturday’s third round, three shots clear of clustered group Alexander Björk, Nicolas Colsaerts, Ross Fisher, Andrew Johnston and Scott Henry, all on eight under par.

Worksop’s Lee Westwood is tied for 12th on -5.