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Horne poised at Tshwane Open

Pretoria - Adian Otaegui fired an eight-under-par 62 to blast to a two-stroke lead in the Tshwane Open on Friday, but South Africa’s Keith Horne is not too concerned about the Spaniard leading the field at Pretoria Country Club.

Horne finished four off the pace and one stroke behind Merrick Bremner, who carded a 66.

The seven-time Sunshine Tour winner shares third with overnight leader David Horsey from England, European Ryder Cup star Edoardo Molinari, Africa Open champion Trevor Fisher Jnr and Wallie Coetzee, in contention for a third week on the trot.

“No doubt he put together a brilliant round, but he will have to back it up on moving day if he hopes to lead this event on Sunday,” said Horne, who was four off the pace when the weather-interrupted second round was completed.

“There are six South Africans in the top 10, a whole bunch more that made move in the right direction today. He’ll have a target on his back, for sure.”

With the South Africans lurking, moving day could turn into a gun-fight at the O.K. Corral and Horne was thrilled to have a part of the action.

“I’m really pleased to be in the thick of things, especially after today’s round,” Horne said.

“I wasn’t as sharp as in the first round, but I still had a solid day with the putter and if I can just get through the last four hole on the back nine without damage, I could be in with a shout.”

Horne opened with a 65 to tie for fifth and carded a somewhat less impressive 69 that nevertheless moved him into a share of third in the second round.

“I started well with birdies at 11 and 12, but I just don’t like that little stretch from the 14th and it definitely doesn’t like me,” said Horne.

“I bogeyed the 16th and 18th in the first round and today the 15th and the 18th got the better of me. The 18th is especially tough. I just can’t clear the fairway bunkers, so I have try and sneak it through a 10 yard gap and inevitably end up in the bunker.

“The wind was also a little trickier today and I miss-clubbed a few times. I knew I just had to stay patient because I can hit wedges into the last couple of holes on the front nine and score. I managed to do that nicely and birdied the fifth, eighth and ninth.

On a course where the bombers have less advantage, Horne’s accuracy off the tee and his tactical approach could nett him a European Tour breakthrough victory this week.

Horne certainly showed his iron-play is on song with a great exhibition of iron-play in the last three rounds of the Africa Open last week.

He was able to produce three successive rounds of 68 in constantly changing winds at the testy East London Golf Club layout to vault to a tie for 10th in the final standings and claimed a runner-up finish in the Dimension Data Pro-Am on three equally challenging Gary Play designed layouts.

The Black Knight’s touch at Pretoria Country Club could be just what the doctored ordered for Horne.

“I’ve been hitting it great the last couple of weeks and hitting it close,” Horne said.

“Anytime you finish birdie-birdie, you’re gaining in confidence and I’m happy with a 69. With two more rounds to go, my goal is to try and avoid that one bad round that always trips me up.”

The rest of the Lumenrock International Sport Management stable had mixed results.

Jaco van Zyl produced a superb 65 to save his tournament after an opening and vaulted to one under 139, while Vaughn Groenewald also made it two the weekend with rounds of 71 and 73.

PH McIntyre carded a 69 to finish one stroke outside the cut, set at one-over-par 141 and Louis de Jager also got his marching orders after rounds of 76 and 70.

Leading Tshwane Open second-round scores on Friday at the par-70, 6 458-metre (7 063-yard) Pretoria Country Club (RSA unless noted):

129 - Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 67 62

131 - Merrick Bremner 65 66

132 - David Horsey (ENG) 63 69, Keith Horne 65 67, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 66 66, Trevor Fisher Jnr 66 66

133 - Dean Burmester 65 68, George Coetzee 67 66, Wallie Coetsee 64 69

134 - Ricardo Santos (POR) 66 68, Brett Rumford (AUS) 64 70, Toby Tree (ENG) 71 63

135 - Erik van Rooyen 66 69, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 65 70, Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) 63 72, Craig Lee (SCO) 67 68, Ockie Strydom 66 69

136 - Anthony Michael 68 68, Jaco Ahlers 69 67, Ross Fisher (ENG) 69 67, Dawie Van der Walt 67 69, Oliver Bekker 66 70, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 70 66

137 - Marco Crespi (ITA) 67 70, Felipe Aguilar (CHL) 68 69, Steve Webster (ENG) 66 71, Jacques Blaauw 72 65, Dylan Frittelli 68 69, Jared Harvey 68 69, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 70 67, Justin Walters 66 71, Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG) 69 68, Jake Redman 68 69

138 - John Parry (ENG) 71 67, Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP) 74 64, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 70 68, Jean Hugo 71 67, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 71 67, Moritz Lampert (GER) 68 70, Ulrich van den Berg 68 70, Rhys West 70 68, Chris Swanepoel 66 72, Tjaart van der Walt 69 69, Darren Clarke (NIR) 71 67, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 70 68, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 67 71

139 - Scott Jamieson (SCO) 70 69, Eduardo de la Riva (ESP) 71 68, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 72 67, Oliver Farr (WAL) 69 70, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 70 69, Oliver Fisher (ENG) 67 72, Robert Rock (ENG) 69 70, Jaco Van Zyl 74 65, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 71 68, Michael Hoey (NIR) 70 69, Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 71 68

140 - David Howell (ENG) 72 68, Byeong-hun An (KOR) 70 70, Todd Sinnott (AUS) 71 69, Rhys Enoch (WAL) 66 74, Seve Benson (ENG) 69 71, Vaughn Groenewald 67 73, Shaun Norris 71 69, Jason Palmer (ENG) 70 70, Doug McGuigan 70 70, Andrew Curlewis 70 70, Mark Williams (ZIM) 70 70

Missed the cut:-

141 - Mark Foster (ENG) 70 71, Callum Mowat 70 71, Matt Ford (ENG) 70 71, Ross McGowan (ENG) 72 69, Julien Quesne (FRA) 73 68, Daniel Brooks (ENG) 70 71, Jake Roos 70 71, Damien McGrane (IRL) 75 66, Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 68 73, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 72 69, Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 70, Chris Lloyd (ENG) 71 70, PH McIntyre 72 69

142 - Graeme Storm (ENG) 67 75, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 69 73, Andrew Johnston (ENG) 69 73, Lyle Rowe 70 72, Brandon Stone 72 70, Jason Barnes (ENG) 74 68, Michael Hollick 69 73, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 70 72, Chris Doak (SCO) 72 70, Jerome Lando Casanova (FRA) 69 73, Jordi Garcia Pinto (ESP) 70 72, Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 69 73, Estanislao Goya (ARG) 70 72, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 70 72, Andy Sullivan (ENG) 71 71, Mark Murless 73 69

143 - Richard Bland (ENG) 71 72, Tyrone Mordt 71 72, Paul Maddy (ENG) 72 71, Lee Slattery (ENG) 69 74, Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 70 73, Garth Mulroy 70 73, Romain Wattel (FRA) 72 71, Tyrone Ferreira 73 70, Justin Harding 71 72, Charl Coetzee 71 72, Jaco Prinsloo 70 73

144 - Le Roux Ferreira 76 68, Michiel Bothma 73 71, Chris Wood (ENG) 71 73, Jbe' Kruger 71 73, Christiaan Basson 75 69, Mark Tullo (CHI) 69 75, Neil Schietekat 71 73, Drikus van der Walt 74 70, James Morrison (ENG) 72 72, Gregory Havret (FRA) 70 74, Titch Moore 77 67, Richie Ramsay (SCO) 72 72, Tom Murray (ENG) 71 73

145 - Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 73 72, Russel Franz 74 71, Divan Gerber 73 72, Peter Karmis 69 76

146 - Louis de Jager 76 70, Johan Carlsson (SWE) 72 74, Danie van Tonder 73 73, Jacquin Hess 72 74, James Kamte 74 72, Heinrich Bruiners 73 73, Zander Lombard 76 70

147 - Steven Ferreira 73 74, JJ Senekal 72 75, Thanda Mavundla 71 76, Arthur Horne (SWZ) 73 74, Renato Paratore (ITA) 73 74, Lindani Ndwandwe 68 79, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 71 76

148 - Derick Petersen 73 75, Warren Abery 70 78, Alex Haindl 74 74

149 - David Drysdale (SCO) 73 76, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 73 76, Trevor Mahoney 74 75

150 - Matteo Manassero (ITA) 75 75, Simon Dyson (ENG) 73 77, Hennie du Plessis 77 73

151 - Ruan de Smidt 74 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 76 75, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 75 76

152 - Andrew Georgiou 74 78

153 - Haydn Porteous 80 73, Colin Nel 75 78

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