Louis de Jager shot a spectacular second-round 65 on Friday to make a drastic surge up the leaderboard at the Cyprus Showdown.
The South African was in red-hot form at the Aphrodite Hills Golf Club by sinking an emphatic seven birdies across his 18 holes, while dropping only one shot on the 13th to finish the day six under.
De Jager’s excellent day out saw him get in contention for a maiden European Tour title ahead of the weekend’s action.
The 33-year-old will head into moving day on nine under par and only three strokes behind leader Jamie Donaldson, who had to cut his second round short after bad light suspended play with the Welshman on the 16th hole.
READ: Louis makes solid start in Cyprus
Donaldson was in superb form before he was interrupted, making seven birdies of his own without any drop shots as of yet.
He will start Saturday’s action quite early with a one-shot lead to complete his second round before making a quick turnaround with the hope of continuing his stronghold on the event.
Zander Lombard enjoyed a steady day out at the picturesque golf resort by going three under for his second round to move to two under for the event.
Wilco Nienaber on the other hand shot a consecutive round of 70 and also sits on two under par, while Haydn Porteous is one over for the event and Garrick Higgo five over.
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Currently the projected cut is at six under par with a whole host of players, including Higgo, yet to finish their second rounds.
It means De Jager is likely to be the only South African in the field for the final two rounds of the event.
The top 32 players will have their scores reset ahead of the third round in what is known as the Saturday Shootout, where the top 16 will progress to Sunday’s final round.
