Branden Grace looks set to be South Africa’s best hope at Leopard Creek this weekend as play reached the halfway mark of the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Championship, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN in Malelane.
Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, made some massive strides during the second round on Friday, finishing with a three under par 69 for the day, three shots ahead of Grace and overnight leader Wil Besseling.
Grace started the day well with an early birdie on the second hole and looked composed for the majority of the front nine before making a bogey on the ninth. The 2015 champion recovered well on the back nine, though, and made up with a birdie on 16 th before finishing on two under for the day and six under for the championship.
Thomas Aiken had a bit of an up and down day on the course with three birdies and three bogeys in his round. He finished even for the round and remains on the four under par. Aiken showed some glimpses of climbing up the leaderboard but he will
be happy to be in this position with the potential of a good round on Saturday to put him very much in contention for the title.
Jaco van Zyl finished the second round tied 7th on three under par and also still in a fairly good position to make a surge on Saturday. He will, however, be disappointed with the two bogeys he made on the back nine after a fairly consistent day out on the course.
After an excellent Nedbank Golf Challenge two weeks ago, Zander Lombard finally found some momentum at Leopard Creek on Friday with a round of two under par to finish in 11th place, seven strokes behind Larrazabal.
Despite making five birdies on the day, Lombard put his round under pressure with three unfortunate bogeys.
All eyes were on Charl Schwartzel though on Friday to see if he can kick on from the solid start he made during his first round.
Despite still struggling with the wrist injury that has kept him out of action for the majority of the year, Schwartzel hinted at some good form on Thursday and he couldn’t have asked for a better start to his second rough with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes. The four time champion’s round took a massive blow on the 16th , though, with a double bogey that saw him finish even par for the round and also on two with Lombard and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard.
