Louis de Jager carded a second round two-under-par 70 on day two of the Golden Pilsener Zimbabwe Open, to give him a two shot lead at Royal Harare Golf Club.
Dealing with the considerably tougher conditions today, De Jager finds himself two ahead of Vaughn Groenewald and three shots better than Lyle Rowe who finished on six-under-par for the championship.
De Jager said, “The greens firmed up and speeded up much more than I expected. You had to just change a bit of your course management, play a bit more conservatively, but at the end of the day I’m happy with where I finished off today.”
There was much talk about the swirling winds at Royal Harare Golf Club and many of the golfers found it difficult to gauge which direction the winds were blowing.
Groenewald goes into the weekend in sole possession of second place after he too carded a two-under-par 70. He said, “When you’re hitting it in the wrong places then it gets tricky because the greens are hard and fast. There were some tricky flags out there. You can’t just attack.”
Going one better than De Jager and Groenewald on the day, and carding two 69’s in-a-row, Rowe heads into the weekend in third place. Just as De Jager and Groenewald had the more favourable morning conditions yesterday. Rowe headed out to softer and less windy conditions today.
He said, “It’s a huge difference compared to yesterday. I mean the greens are – just the firmness of them, it made a huge difference. Yesterday you had to allow for a bit of release whereas this morning you could fly it and stop it.”
Under the radar amongst six other golfers on five-under-par is the defending champion Dean Burmester. Looking to emulate his childhood hero Mr. Nick Price as the only player to successfully defend the title, Burmester took a step in the right direction by carding a three-under-par 69.
Marc Cayeux’s story continues to be one of inspiration as the 38-year-old achieved his goal of making the cut this week after finishing one-over par after two rounds at Royal Harare Golf Club.
From sunshinetour.com
