The 34 year old Swede carded his second bogey-free round of the week to reach 15 under par to move ahead of overnight leader Tomás Gouveia, who holds solo second.

Blomstrand started fast with a birdie on the opening hole, making additional gains on the fourth and sixth before three birdies in four holes around the turn saw him climb within touching distance of Gouveia, who had earlier set the clubhouse target at 13 under par. An eagle at the 14th from Blomstrand saw him pull level with the Portuguese, before back-to-back gains to finish saw him move into the solo lead.

“It was nice,” he said. “There was a lot of wind today so I’m actually very happy with how I managed this round.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had two bogey-free rounds in a row, it’s the first time, maybe, so hopefully for another one or two rounds, who knows?”

The highlight of Blomstrand’s day was his eagle at the par five 14th, as he pulled level with Gouveia, and the Swede admitted he did have that score in mind ahead of teeing off this afternoon.

“I saw that he was at 13,” he added. “I was playing quite solid actually. It was quite hard on the greens, it was rolling a bit quicker and some were down wind, it’s not that easy so I’m super happy.”

A second place finish at the Jonsson Workwear Durban Open in February was the start of what has been a positive season to date for Blomstrand, which includes a three further top twenty finishes and only three missed cuts. Those results mean that Blomstrand currently sits in 27th on the Road to Mallorca rankings, and he admitted that this week’s result could play a crucial part in securing promotion to the DP World Tour.

“There are six or seven events now until China,” he said. “Every tournament from now until the end of the season is very important, so we will take it an event at a time and take it as it comes.

“It’s extremely important now. All the golfers out there know that there are 15 spots. We will see how the weekend goes.”

Scotland’s Marc Warren holds solo third on ten under par, with German Hurly Long just one-stroke behind him in fourth. Belgian James Meyer De Beco, Swede Adam Wallin and South African duo Deon Germishuys and MJ Viljoen share fifth on eight under par.

The third round of the Scottish Challenge supported by The R&A gets under way on Saturday morning at 8:27am local time, with Blomstrand teeing off alongside Gouveia in the final group at 1:50pm.