Dean Burmester experienced a phenomenal day out on the Emirates Golf Club when he shot a second round score of 68, which will him see him go into the weekend one stroke behind the leader Eddie Pepperell, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
The South African, who was in a car accident with his family in Dubai on Wednesday, made a strong start on Thursday with an opening round 69 at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
And, Burmester kicked on from that good beginning on Friday, making five birdies and one unfortunate bogey towards the end of his round, which saw him finish in T2.
The 2017 Tshwane Open winner started on the back nine on Friday morning and like most of the other players in the field, capitalised on the opportunity to score low on the first nine holes.
But, he managed to show great composure when he came home on the front nine by not dropping unnecessary shots, something that a lot of players have experienced in the first two rounds.
Burmester experienced a rather tough start to the year, missing the cut at the SA Open and last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
He will, though, be eager to convert this excellent opportunity of challenging for the title in Dubai.
Fellow countryman Louis Oosthuizen on the other end had a somewhat inconsistent round that could both have been much worse and much better.
The 2010 British Open champion started his second round on 1 under par but had a bit of a slump on the front nine when he made a bogey on the par 3, seventh hole, before going two over on the par 5, ninth.
He did, however, turn the momentum back in his favour on the back nine with birdies on the 10th, 11th and 13th holes.
But lack of accuracy saw him drop another shot on the 15th, which meant he finished with a round of even par and seven shots off the pace.
Another South African, who performed well on Friday, though, is Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
The 25-year-old carded a brilliant bogey free 6 under par 66, which will see him go into moving day in T7 and three strokes behind Pepperell.
