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Mbabane - Teaghan Gauche and Rourke van der Spuy finished the second round of the Royal Swazi Open tied at the summit of the leaderboard on 27 points at Royal Swazi Spa Country Club.
Gauche admits he had a slow start to the tournament due to sickness but says he is happy to be at the top of the leaderboard after round two at Royal Swazi Spa Country Club.
He almost withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday morning but stuck at it to sign for a seven-under-par 65 and earn 16 points.
A quick-fire four-under 68 in the second round earned him 11 points which took him to the top of the leaderboard on 27 points.
"I got off to a slow front nine but got things going again on the back nine, so yes, I am very happy with that round," said Gauche said.
"Today I probably hit it a bit worse than yesterday, to be honest but I just kept to my routines and luckily there were no terrible shots. I am confident for the weekend and I am looking forward to it."
Van der Spuy made a slow start to the second round as he made only a pair of birdies on the front nine but recovered swiftly on the back nine with six birdies on the homeward stretch.
Having shot 31 on the front nine yesterday and another 31 on the back nine left the 27-year old full of confidence.
"This is a course that I feel I can get both nines and it has been the same story in the past and hopefully we can match the two together on the weekend," he said.
"It's a matter of staying patient. The birdies are out there."
"All in all, I cannot be unhappy with that round," Van der Spuy said.
Lurking behind Gauche and Van der Spuy on 26 points for the week was veteran Vaughn Groenewald who made birdie, eagle and birdie on 10, 11 and 12.
"You are always happy when you are leading the tournament. In Zimbabwe I hurt my back and so I struggled there a bit," said Groenewald.
"But the start of the round yesterday was a bit uncomfortable but as the day went on it just got better and better.
"I played solidly today; one bogey. I made two yesterday, so that's three soft bogeys all week. I will be looking forward to the weekend; it's going to be good."
The duo of Neil Schietekat and Merrick Bremner follow closely behind Groenewald on 25.
On the ladies front, Ashley Buhai returned to Swaziland 15 years since she last played here. She leads the six-lady field with four points while Stacey Bregman is three points adrift.
The Chase to the Investec Cup champion, Buhai, says she played the course blind yesterday but recovered well today having made a few birdies.
"I made a few more birdies today but I also made some silly mistakes but I'm still happy with how I hit it," said Buhai. "I just need to keep playing some steady golf and just try to keep it in."
Members of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Sipho Bujela and Keenan Davidse were the highest finishers from that developmental programme.
Bujela has 22 points and not far from the leading pack while Davidse is on seven points.
Scores:
27 - Teaghan Gauche 16 11, Rourke van der Spuy 14 13
26 - Vaughn Groenewald 14 12
25 - Merrick Bremner 14 11, Neil Schietekat 14 11
24 - Jared Harvey 12 12
23 - Louis de Jager 12 11
22 - Dean Burmester 5 17, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 12 10, Lyle Rowe 11 11, Oliver Bekker 12 10, Sipho Bujela 10 12
21 - Jaco Prinsloo 11 10
20 - Ockie Strydom 6 14, Ruan de Smidt 9 11
19 - Titch Moore 6 13, JJ Senekal 17 2
18 - Andre de Decker 8 10, Luke Jerling 15 3, Anthony Michael 10 8, Peter Karmis 12 6
17 - Colin Nel 9 8, Ryan Tipping 7 10, Christiaan Basson 13 4, Rhys West 10 7, Andrew Curlewis 6 11
16 - PH McIntyre 3 13, Hennie du Plessis 9 7, Jonathan Agren 12 4, Ulrich van den Berg 8 8, Bryce Easton 5 11, Matthew Spacey 7 9
15 - Toby Tree 5 10, Jacques Kruyswijk 13 2, Theunis Spangenberg 5 10, Jaco Ahlers 6 9, CJ du Plessis 14 1
14 - Justin Harding 2 12, George Coetzee 5 9, Tyrone Ferreira 16 -2, Keenan Davidse 4 10
13 - Wallie Coetsee 12 1, Stefan Engell Andersen 12 1, Zack
Byrd 2 11, Michael Hollick 9 4, Warrick Druian 6 7, Herman Loubser 10 3
12 - Adilson Da Silva 9 3, Jbe' Kruger 1 11
11 - Erik van Rooyen 3 8
Missed the cut:
10 - Jaco Mouton 5 5, Danie van Tonder 4 6, Combrinck Smit 8 2
9 - Chris Swanepoel 7 2, Alex Haindl 5 4, N.J. Arnoldi 5 4, Jacquin Hess 2 7, Jake Roos 3 6, Jean Hugo 6 3
5 - Stuart Smith 2 3
4 - Wynand Dingle 2 2
3 - JC Ritchie 7 -4, Doug McGuigan 0 3, Mark Williams 4 -1
2 - Bradford Vaughan 5 -3
1 - Heinrich Bruiners -4 5
-2 - Marc Cayeux -4 2
-3 - Arthur Horne 0 -3, Andrew van der Knaap -4 1
