His seven-under-par 66 had him lurking ominously just one off the pace as he made nine birdies and two bogeys to reach the halfway mark in 12-under-par, just adrift of the first-round pace-setter Stephen Ferreira of Portugal who carded a second-round two-under 71 to go with his opening 11-under, and Jared Harvey, who matched Bekker’s 66 to share the lead.
The stretch from 10 to 14 has treated Bekker well.
“Those five holes, I’ve played in 11-under-par in the two rounds so far,” he said.
“That’s definitely my favourite stretch of the course, and I hope I can play them on the weekend the way I have been doing. There’s three par-fives in that stretch, and all of them are reachable. And 11 is not a long par-three and 12 is a shortish par-four. So, on every hole you’ve got a good chance if you hit good tee shots. Luckily, that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Harvey was also productive through that stretch in the second round. Although he made a bogey on 11, he made eagle on 10 and 13, and then he followed the second one with a birdie on 14.
“I’m obviously exceeding expectations,” Harvey said.
“I had two eagles and you don’t plan on having those. It was a great one on 10, where I holed my third shot. So there were a couple of good breaks here and there, and a couple of unexpected long putts, but you need a bit of luck.”
Ferreira was unable to repeat the incredible scoring of his first round, but recognised the significance of how well he played that stretch too.
“The back nine is going to be the most important section of the course for the weekend with the four par-fives,” he said.
“Today I capitalised on those par-fives, making birdie on all four. I was happy with that and I hope I can do it over the weekend.”
Harvey sees it that way too.
“If you’re looking to score and separate yourself from the pack, or catch up if you’re behind, I definitely think that stretch is key. I’ll be targeting that with a couple of good tee shots there,” he said.
Bekker has been doing precisely that: He’s been accurate throughout so far.
“I’m really hitting it well,” he said.
“I think I’ve missed four greens in the two rounds so far, so I’m giving myself a lot of opportunities to make birdie and I’ve been making lots of birdies. Unfortunately, the times I’ve missed greens, I’ve made bogey. So if I can keep the bogeys off the card I’m sure I can come in with an even lower score.”
All three would be well advised to keep a wary eye on Rhys West, who has been solid on his way to fourth at 11-under-par, just two off the pace. Behind West is Jaco Mouton at nine-under, with a large group of seven players on eight-under.
Scores:
133 - Stephen Ferreira 62 71, Jared Harvey 67 66
134 - Oliver Bekker 68 66
135 - Rhys West 66 69
137 - Jaco Mouton 66 71
138 - Francois Coetzee 70 68, Titch Moore 70 68, Luke Jerling 70 68, Thriston Lawrence 66 72, Toby Tree 69 69, Adilson Da Silva 69 69, Coert Groenewald 68 70
139 - Danie van Tonder 69 70, Hennie du Plessis 66 73, Chris Swanepoel 69 70, Ruan Huysamen 71 68, Jean Hugo 69 70, Ruan de Smidt 71 68, JC Ritchie 67 72
140 - Christiaan Basson 70 70, Keenan Davidse 65 75, Riekus Nortje 70 70, Jaco Ahlers 68 72
141 - Wynand Dingle 73 68, Steve Surry 73 68, Jack Harrison 71 70, Doug McGuigan 70 71, Michael Palmer 73 68, Andre de Decker 72 69, Breyten Meyer 70 71, Alex Haindl 71 70, Madalitso Muthiya 73 68, JJ Senekal 70 71, Danie Van Niekerk 72 69, Scott Campbell 73 68, Altaaf Bux 73 68
142 - Matthew Carvell 69 73, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 69 73, Neil Schietekat 72 70, Peter Karmis 70 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 73 69, Allan Versfeld 72 70, Antonio Costa 71 71, Matias Calderon 72 70, Vaughn Groenewald 73 69, Ulrich van den Berg 66 76
143 - Anthony Michael 69 74, Jake Redman 70 73, Justin Harding 67 76, Zack Byrd 72 71, Cody Martin 73 70, Rourke van der Spuy 72 71, Jonathan Agren 73 70, Tyrone Ryan 69 74
144 - Jason Froneman 72 72, Merrick Bremner 75 69, Combrinck Smit 71 73, Desne Van Den Bergh 75 69, Ryan Cairns 71 73
145 - Richie O'Donovan 75 70, Steven Ferreira 70 75, Colin Nel 69 76, Wallie Coetsee 70 75, Jacquin Hess 73 72, Dongkwan Kim 73 72, Sean Bradley 73 72, Ryan Tipping 75 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 72, Andrew Curlewis 75 70, Jaco Prinsloo 70 75
Missed the cut:
146 - Kyle Pilgrim 70 76, PH McIntyre 71 75, Jake Roos 73 73, Stuart Smith 72 74, Rhys Enoch 76 70, Tyrone Ferreira 71 75, Martin Rohwer 73 73, Jason Viljoen 74 72, Damon Stephenson 74 72, Jason Smith 71 75, Louis de Jager 75 71, Peter Gustafsson 71 75, Andrew van der Knaap 75 71
147 - N.J. Arnoldi 74 73, Charl Coetzee 71 76, Paul de Beer 73 74, Andre Nel 76 71, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 75, Lyle Rowe 75 72, Simon Ngigi 77 70, Jason Diab 77 70
148 - Callum Mowat 73 75, Bryce Easton 73 75, Dwayne Basson 72 76, Nemanja Savic 72 76, Michael Hollick 75 73, Herman Loubser 74 74, MJ Viljoen 76 72, Timothy Sondashi 75 73
149 - Andre Cruse 73 76, Toto Thimba 76 73, Zander Lombard 76 73, Teaghan Gauche 77 72, Quintin Wilsnach 74 75, Dayne Moore 74 75
150 - Teboho Sefatsa 72 78, Mark Williams 74 76, Chris Cannon 75 75, Divan van den Heever 68 82, Martin Rominger 77 73, Heinrich Bruiners 79 71
151 - Jacques P de Villiers 75 76, Omar Sandys 76 75, Patrick Mwendapole 72 79, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 74 77, Shankar Natarajan 83 68, Sydney Wemba 78 73
152 - Sipho Bujela 73 79, Stefan Engell Andersen 78 74, CJ du Plessis 73 79, Kelvin Chibuye 75 77
153 - Kelly Tembo 75 78, Abel Zulu 73 80
154 - Aaron Simfukwe Jnr 75 79, Thanda Mavundla 76 78, Denmark Mulambo 76 78
155 - TC Charamba 76 79, Aubrey Beckley 77 78
156 - Irvin Mazibuko 75 81, Matthew Spacey 78 78, Mikhail Tewary 76 80, Gerard du Plooy 80 76
157 - Gert Myburgh 77 80
158 - Mukuka Mwango Jnr 80 78, Teagan Moore 78 80
159 - Kelvin Phiri 77 82, Beza Daka 83 76
160 - Boyd Kapalamoto 78 82
162 - Patrick Mwendapole Jnr 80 82, Armandt Scholtz 81 81, Cosmas Mufaya 80 82, Gabriel Chibale 81 81
165 - Eto Kabbudula 82 83
167 - Geoffrey Banda 88 79