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Monke home and dry after weather delays in Hungary

Germany 's Anja Monke pulled one stroke clear of the pack to grab the outright lead after the second day of the OTP Bank Ladies Central European Open in Hungary .

The 29-year-old from Herford made her move in the evening drizzle after a day which included burning sunshine, lightning, thunder, heavy rain fall, and eventually, light drizzle.

Tournament play was temporarily suspended at 4.50pm due to thunder and lightning which came across from neighbouring Austria but, after a delay of almost two hours; play recommenced at 6.45pm, in heavy rainfall.

After a few putts on the practice green to readjust to the speed, Monke completed her bogey-free round of five-under-par 66 to lead on twelve-under-par after a 64 yesterday.

She joked that she was “too lazy” to go to the driving range in the break and the putting practice paid off after she realised that the greens had sped up considerably.

“I saw one of my colleagues putt and it went very long because she thought the greens would have slowed down so I think I did the right thing,” said the tall blonde Monke.

“The delay didn't affect me at all. We sat down, had a chat and lots of laughs; a couple of drinks and an ice cream. It went quickly.”

After finishing runner-up at the recent KLM Ladies Open in the Netherlands, Monke will be looking to secure her first Tour victory in Saturday's final round; as will England's Rebecca Hudson, who was similarly unaffected by the storm delay. The 2000 British Amateur Champion and three-time Curtis Cup player posted a brilliant 65, finishing the day just one shot off the lead on eleven-under-par.

She won the South African Masters on the Nedbank Women's Golf Tour at the beginning of the year but admitted that playing in Europe this was a step up.

“ I'm a bit nervous, slightly, about tomorrow, I think, already. But I'm going to go out and just play golf and try to forget that I'm in the last group! Honest answer for you! ” she said.

Spain's Sara Beautell and Finland's Riikka Hakkarainen tied for third position on nine-under-par after Beautell had a 68 to remain in contention and Hakkarainen had a seven-under-par 64 to climb 20 places up the leader board.

Hakkarainen, the Tenerife Ladies Open Champion, played the back nine in 30 strokes and was six-under-par after six holes in her second round, having started at the 10 th .

An albatross at the par-five 13 th hole from 180 metres helped her cause considerably. She holed out from 180 metres with her three-wood and proceeded to birdie the 11 th , 14 th and 15 th holes. She played the front nine, which was her back nine, in one-under-par 34.

Having been ten-under-par after 17 holes, Spain 's Ana Belen Sanchez dropped back into fifth position on eight-under-par after she double bogeyed the narrow par-four 18 th .

Italy 's Sophie Sandolo, French woman Sophie Giquel and English players Trish Johnson and Kirsty Taylor tied for sixth place on seven-under-par.

England's Henrietta Brockway narrowly missed the opportunity to make her third cut in a Ladies European Tour event after she finished on two-over-par. The cut fell at one-over-par.

Jessica Korda, the 13-year-old daughter of Czech tennis star Petr Korda, missed by five after she finished at six-over par for 36 holes but she said: “I really enjoyed the experience and hope to come back and play better next time.”