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Coetzee soars into lead

Pretoria - A late surge of birdies from Charl Coetzee gave the South African a second-round 65 at the Tshwane Open on Friday and a one-shot lead over a congested pack.

The 26-year-old opened with three birdies on the front nine and carded four more in his last seven holes to go 12-under at the halfway mark of the European Tour sanctioned event.

He was safely in the club house at the Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate at Centurion when an afternoon thunder storm brought play to an abrupt halt.

Coetzee held a four-stroke lead before the afternoon session where Mark Tullo of Chile recorded a 66 to cut his lead to a stroke.

Dawie van der Walt was also 11-under par, including seven birdies, when his round was brought to a premature halt with four holes to play.

He will be return early on Saturday with 53 others to complete the second round.

First-round leader Darren Fichardt was also among those yet to complete his round, picking up only one shot in a steady round to go eight-under.

American Peter Uihlein, a former U.S. amateur champion, chipped in at the last for a round of 66 to lie fourth on 10-under.

Coetzee's 65 was matched by Magnus Carlsson of Sweden, who turned his fortunes around after an opening day 76 but he is still nine behind the leaders.

"I haven't had this much fun in a long time," said Coetzee. "It's always nice to play well and it goes both ways, the better you play the more you enjoy it."

Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal looked likely to make the cut after putting a frustrating first round 76 behind him and storming through the second round to a one-under total before being forced to leave the course with two holes to play.

Incomplete scores (RSA unless specified):
-12 - Charl Coetzee 67 65
-11 - Mark Tullo (CHI) 67 66, Dawie Van der Walt 68 (-7) [14]
-10 - Peter Uihlein (USA) 68 66
-9 - Romain Wattel (FRA) 70 (-7) [17]
-8 - David Howell (ENG) 67 69, Danny Willett (ENG) 68 68, Richard Finch (ENG) 70 66, Louis de Jager 71 (-7) [17], Darren Fichardt 65 (-1) [16], Joel Sjoholm (SWE) 68 (-4) [13]
-6 - Graeme Storm (ENG) 70 68, Dean Burmester 68 70, Joost Luiten (NED) 69 69, Jean Hugo 67 71, Keith Horne 68 70, Doug McGuigan 71 67, Oliver Bekker 71 67, Justin Harding 68 70, Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 70 68, Vaughn Groenewald 68 70, Merrick Bremner 68 70, Gary Lockerbie (ENG) 67 71, Jake Roos 69 (-3) [12]
-5 - Matteo Delpodio (ITA) 71 68, Desvonde Botes 69 70, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 70 69, Garth Mulroy 69 70, Hennie Otto 71 68, James Kamte 69 70, Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) 72 67, Colin Nel 69 70, Thabo Maseko 70 69, Damien McGrane (IRL) 68 71, Mark Williams 69 70, Dylan Frittelli 71 68, Ruan de Smidt 69 (-2) [16], Christiaan Basson 70 (-3) [13], Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) 70 (-3) [12], Graham van der Merwe 70 (-3) [11]
-4 - Lasse Jensen(DEN) 73 67, Jaco Ahlers 68 72, Scott Arnold (AUS) 68 72, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 69 (-1) [14], Chris Lloyd (ENG) 71 (-3) [14], Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 68 (Par) [11]
-3 - Shaun Smith 68 73, Andrew Curlewis 73 68, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 72 69, Gary Stal (FRA) 72 69, Chris Paisley (ENG) 71 70, Jbe' Kruger 71 70, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 76 65, Scott Henry (SCO) 72 69, Bjorn Akesson (SWE) 66 75, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 72 69, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 70 71, Ross McGowan (ENG) 73 68, James Kingston 70 (-1) [17], Paul Waring (ENG) 74 (-5) [15], Tjaart van der Walt 71 (-2) [13], Matthew Nixon (ENG) 70 (-1) [12]
-2 - Jorge Campillo (ESP) 69 73, Matthew Southgate (ENG) 71 71, Eddie Pepperell (ENG) 70 72, David Horsey (ENG) 68 74, Danie van Tonder 73 69, Darren Clarke (NIR) 69 73, Simon Wakefield (ENG) 68 74, Neil Schietekat 75 67, Marc Warren (SCO) 70 72, Justin Walters 71 71, Warren Abery 73 (-3) [17], Grant Muller 70 (Par) [16], Peter Whiteford(SCO) 71 (-1) [15], Peter Karmis 72 (-2) [12]
Missed the cut:-
-1 - PH McIntyre 75 68, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 72 71, Hendrik Buhrmann 72 71, Tom Lewis (ENG) 73 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 72, Andrew Georgiou 74 69, Keenan Davidse 74 69, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 72 71, John Parry (ENG) 76 67, Allan Versfeld 73 (-2) [17], Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP) 76 (-5) [16], Oliver Fisher (ENG) 70 (+1) [16], Robert Rock (ENG) 71 (Par) [14], Divan van den Heever 69 (+2) [12], Laurie Canter (ENG) 74 (-3) [12]
Par - Albert Pistorius 70 74, Jacques Blaauw 70 74, Peter Erofejeff (FIN) 71 73, Espen Kofstad (NOR) 72 72, Andy Sullivan (ENG) 71 73, Chris Swanepoel 72 72, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 67 (+5) [15], Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 73 (-1) [15], Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 76 (-4) [14], Steve Webster (ENG) 71 (+1) [13], Oscar Floren (SWE) 73 (-1) [12]

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