PORTO FELIZ, Brazil – Argentina’s Andrés Gallegos followed an opening 63 with a 65 Friday morning to claim the clubhouse lead at the JHSF 67 Aberto do Brasil. At 14-under 128 through 36 holes, the 26-yer old finished the morning wave holding a three-shot lead over American Mitchell Meissner, who has posted rounds of 66-65 at Fazenda Boa Vista.

Teeing it off on No. 10 at 7:30 a.m., Gallegos started his day with eight consecutive pars before draining an eagle putt on 18, his second 3 at the 503-yard par-five within the last 24 hours.

“I’m striking the ball solid and I’m hitting many great shots into the greens, so that has allowed me to remain under that,” said Gallegos. “The putter didn’t work as well as it did yesterday. It took me time to make my first birdie, it was actually an eagle I made on my ninth hole (No. 18) and then on the back-nine the putts started dropping.”

He went on to birdie the next three holes for a nice eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie string that quickly moved him to 5-under for the day. A bogey on 4 halted his charge, but he bounced back with a birdie-birdie finish.

“I went out focused on making as many birdies as I could, trying to stay out of trouble. Things worked out pretty well these first two days. Hopefully, I can keep it going this weekend,” added Gallegos.

The Lobos, Argentina, native is carrying a nice momentum, having won the Abierto Norpatagónico only 12 days ago in Bahia Blanca. He claimed that Argentine Tour/Dev Series co-sanctioned event posting rounds of 68-62-63-65 (22-under) for an impressive five-shot win.

If you add up his Brazil Open numbers this week, he has shot 36-under in his last six competitive rounds.

This is Gallegos’ best career start through 36 holes on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. Back in 2018, he shot 66-64 to get to 12-under halfway through the Puerto Plata Open, an event he ended up winning by six shots at Playa Dorada Golf Club in the Dominican Republic.

If he is able to claim his second Tour title this week, Gallegos could move up to sixth on the Totalplay Cup standings. He entered the week ranked 62nd, with a tie for 20th at the Scotia Wealth Management Chile Open as his best of three cuts made in five starts.