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According to the Sunshine Tour website, he carded a seven-under-par 65 on Montagu in the second round to move to 13-under and a one-stroke lead over England’s Toby Tree. Germany’s Alexander Knappe, Ben Eccles of Australia and local Darren Fichardt - a two-time champion at this event - a further shot back on 11-under.
“A French guy organised some pro-ams in South Africa, and I came out through my sponsor,” Guerrier said. “It gave me chance to practice while it was winter in France and at the same time play in the pro-ams. When I found I could play in the Dimension Data, I was really happy. Everyone was really enthusiastic about the tournament, so I was pleased to be able to play.”
He got in because 40 spots are reserved for European Tour players who want to play in the event, and he proceeded to put together two bogey-free rounds - the first an impressive six-under at The Links to get himself to the top of the leaderboard.
“I’m really happy,” he said. “Yesterday, I played great. It wasn’t so good today. Usually it’s very difficult to keep bogeys off the card. We all know golf - it’s long, hard road. I missed some shots today but I was lucky, because I could always recover. I always missed the greens on the right side and made up and down when I missed.”
Tree produced an error-free round at The Links, his seven-under-par 66 putting him in contention for the second week in a row after last week’s Tshwane Open. “I got off to a good start,” he said. “I was three-under through six and I looked at the leaderboard and the scores were good so I knew I had to kick on because everyone was playing well.”
Knappe matched Tree’s 66 on The Links, but it was Eccles’ round which really caught the eye: He made seven successive birdies to finish his round, making it eight birdies on the homeward nine for a closing 29. “It’s what I wanted to do with the calm conditions this morning,” he said. “Scoring is really good so you’ve just got to try and keep the pedal down and get those birdies.”
Guerrier himself had a pretty impressive run to the finish on Montagu, making four consecutive birdies to finish, and that on the course on which the final round will be played on Sunday, after the 168 professionals have played a round on each of the courses. At that point, there will be a cut to the top 65 professionals and ties, and the top 25 pro-am teams will also make the cut.
“I’ve only played Outeniqua once,” said Guerrier of the prospects for his third round. “It doesn’t look very difficult. But if you play good, no course is difficult, but if you play bad, all courses are difficult.”
Scores:
-13 - Julien Guerrier (FRA) 67 65
-12 - Toby Tree (ENG) 67 66
-11 - Alexander Knappe (GER) 68 66, Ben Eccles (AUS) 70 64, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 66 68
-10 - Espen Kofstad (NOR) 67 68, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 66 69, Garrick Porteous (ENG) 69 66
-9 - Peter Karmis (RSA) 66 70, Wallie Coetsee (RSA) 67 68
-8 - Jean-Paul Strydom (RSA) 68 69, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 68 68, Ulrich van den Berg (RSA) 68 69, Ross McGowan (ENG) 70 66,Dean Burmester (RSA) 67 70, Brandon Stone (RSA) 65 72, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA) 65 72, Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 67 70,Ockie Strydom (RSA) 70 67
-7 - Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 67 70, George Coetzee (RSA) 68 70, Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA) 70 67, Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 69 68
-6 - Zander Lombard (RSA) 68 71, Michael Palmer (RSA) 71 67, Mark Murless (RSA) 67 72, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 70 69,James Robinson (ENG) 71 67
-5 - Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA) 71 68, Tjaart van der Walt (RSA) 71 68, Scott Henry (SCO) 71 68, Jean Hugo (RSA) 68 72,Nemanja Savic (SRB) 70 69, Jack Harrison (ENG) 73 67, Jacques Blaauw (RSA) 67 73, Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 73 66,Christiaan Basson (RSA) 69 71, Chris Swanepoel (RSA) 73 66
-4 - Jaco Prinsloo (RSA) 66 75, Rhys Enoch (WAL) 72 68, Zachary Portemont (USA) 71 70, Allan Versfeld (RSA) 72 69,Bobby Wyatt (USA) 69 72, Alan Michell (RSA) 68 73, Haydn Porteous (RSA) 68 73, Louis de Jager (RSA) 70 70,Hennie Otto (RSA) 66 75, Oscar Stark (SWE) 71 69, Jeff Hopkins (IRL) 73 67, Francesco Laporta (ITA) 65 76,MJ Viljoen (RSA) 72 69, Kevin Stone (RSA) 68 73, Ruan de Smidt (RSA) 70 70, Jamie McLeary (SCO) 72 68
-3 - Russel Franz (RSA) 73 68, Steven Ferreira (RSA) 72 70, Doug McGuigan (SCO) 72 69, Tyrone Ferreira (RSA) 73 68,Titch Moore (RSA) 75 66, Rourke van der Spuy (RSA) 70 71, Drikus van der Walt (RSA) 73 69, Keenan Davidse (RSA) 72 69,Danie van Tonder (RSA) 72 69
-2 - Christofer Blomstrand (SWE) 68 75, Charl Coetzee (RSA) 70 72, Colin Nel (RSA) 74 69, Garth Mulroy (RSA) 69 74,JC Ritchie (RSA) 70 73, Darryn Lloyd (RSA) 71 71, Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA) 70 73
-1 - Jordan Smith (ENG) 69 75, Andrew Georgiou (CYP) 72 71, Richard Sterne (RSA) 78 66, Jonathan Agren (SWE) 75 69,Breyten Meyer (RSA) 70 74, Bryce Easton (RSA) 73 71, Jared Harvey (RSA) 76 67, Bradford Vaughan (RSA) 75 69,Andrew Curlewis (RSA) 71 73, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 73 70, Oliver Bekker (RSA) 69 75, Teaghan Gauche (RSA) 71 72,Kevin Phelan (IRL) 71 73, Daniel Greene (RSA) 69 75
Par - Sam Walker (ENG) 71 74, Antonio Rosado (POR) 68 76, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 72 73, Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 72 72,Henry Featherstone (ENG) 74 70, Neil Schietekat (RSA) 76 69, Mark Williams (ZIM) 73 72, Andre de Decker (RSA) 72 73
+1 - Drikus Bruyns (RSA) 75 71, Bryandrew Roelofsz (RSA) 73 73, Jason Froneman (RSA) 74 72, Brett Liddle (RSA) 74 71,Irvin Mazibuko (RSA) 74 71, Jacquin Hess (RSA) 71 74, Stuart Smith (BOT) 76 70, Nick Marsh (ENG) 72 73,Gavin Moynihan (IRL) 73 73, Steve Surry (ENG) 72 74, Gert Myburgh (RSA) 74 71
+2 - Trevor Mahoney (RSA) 76 71, Andre Bossert (SUI) 75 72, Le Roux Ferreira (RSA) 73 74, Bryn Flanagan (RSA) 75 72,Divan van den Heever (RSA) 75 72, Michiel Bothma (RSA) 73 73, Laurie Canter (ENG) 70 76, Lyle Rowe (RSA) 76 70,John Hahn (USA) 71 75
+3 - Jake Redman (RSA) 73 75, Desvonde Botes (RSA) 79 69, Lincoln Tighe (AUS) 72 76, Matthew Carvell (RSA) 76 72,Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP) 79 69, Alan McLean (SCO) 74 74, Martin Rominger (SUI) 70 78, Bradley Neil (SCO) 78 70,Anthony Michael (RSA) 78 70, JJ Senekal (RSA) 74 74
+4 - Kevin Rundle (RSA) 69 80, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu (ZIM) 78 70, Makhetha Mazibuko (RSA) 79 69,Merrick Bremner (RSA) 69 80
+5 - Derick Petersen (RSA) 76 73, Ruan Pretorius (RSA) 72 78, Robert Wiederkehr (SUI) 72 78, Gerrit Foster (RSA) 77 73,Gideon Pienaar (RSA) 74 75, Theunis Spangenberg (RSA) 75 75, Alex Haindl (RSA) 79 71, CJ du Plessis (RSA) 72 78,Rhys West (RSA) 77 73, Hennie du Plessis (RSA) 80 70, Daan Huizing (NED) 75 74
+6 - Callie Swart (RSA) 74 77, Calvin Pearson (RSA) 73 78, Justin Walters (RSA) 75 76, Tyrone Ryan (RSA) 74 77,Heinrich Bruiners (RSA) 76 75, PH McIntyre (RSA) 72 79
+7 - Morne Buys (RSA) 75 77, Bryce Bibby (RSA) 80 71, Grant Veenstra (RSA) 79 73, Ryan Tipping (RSA) 77 74,Scott Vincent (ZIM) 73 79
+8 - Johnny Evans (ENG) 78 75, Tyron McComb (RSA) 83 69, Warren Abery (RSA) 76 77
+9 - Allister de Kock (RSA) 74 80, Jack Senior (ENG) 78 75, Dwayne Basson (RSA) 73 81, Armandt Scholtz (RSA) 75 78,Callum Mowat (RSA) 79 75, Justin Harding (RSA) 80 74, Jason Viljoen (RSA) 78 76
+10 - Werner van Niekerk (RSA) 69 86, Wynand Dingle (RSA) 77 78
+11 - Siphiwe Siphayi (RSA) 85 71, Pieter Kruger (RSA) 83 73
+12 - Ben Mannix (ENG) 78 79, Jimmy Mullen (ENG) 79 78
+13 - Teboho Sefatsa (RSA) 81 76
+15 - Michael Hollick (RSA) 83 77
+18 - Mikhail Tewary (RSA) 78 85
WD - Greg Bentley (ZIM) 86 WD
