Erik van Rooyen and Dean Burmester were the closest South Africans to leader Wade Ormsby through 18 holes at the Scandinavian Invitation at Hills Golf and Sports Club.
Ormsby’s flawless 62 was enough for a one-shot lead over Alex Levy and local Joakim Lagergren. England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick was fourth alone after a bogey-free 64.
Van Rooyen was fifth alongside another Englishman in Matthew Southgate. He started with three straight birdies to get his event off to the perfect start. Six straight pars saw him make the turn in 33 and began his inward nine with a birdie.
A bogey at the 12 was immediately offset by a gain at the next before another string of pars helped him consolidate his position. A birdie at the last helped him climb a shot closer to the Australian up at the top.
Countryman Burmester was another off to a flier, he turned four under par and got to -5 with a birdie at the par 5 third. Like Van Rooyen, his day saw just one mistake as he bogeyed the par 3 fifth to drop into a share of seventh with four players for company.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout was next best in the pile shooting 67s. Starting on the back nine, he birdied his first and third holes to get up and running. Another gain followed at the eighth but his birdie at the second was only good enough to correct his day’s only bogey at the previous hole.
Lower down the leaderboard in a share of 35th was George Coetzee, who closed one under par with Zander Lombard and Haydn Porteous level for their Thursday efforts.
Photo: Luke Walker/Getty Images
