He held a two-shot lead over Sunshine Tour Order of Merit leader Anders Hansen of Denmark after he fired a second-round four-under-par 68 that was somewhat spoiled by a double-bogey six on the 17th – his eighth of the day after he teed off on the 10th) – and a bogey five on the first.
“It was playing easy this morning this course, I think, it wasn’t playing so difficult,” said Martin. “The greens were a little soft and not as fast as yesterday and not that much wind. I thought somebody would shoot very low.”
Hansen also had an up-and-down round, which included a chip-in from a greenside bunker on the 17th and a 25-footer for birdie on the 15th.
But a double bogey and a bogey on his inward nine kept him from claiming the outright lead.
But the Order of Merit is all but sewn up for the Dane, with Charl Chwartzel at one-over for the tournament after a disastrous start with his five-over 77.
Although Schwartzel unfurled a 68 in the second round, he is sweating to see if he makes the cut which will come at 65 professionals and ties at the end of the round.
Hansen has a one-shot edge of another Spaniard, Alejandro Canizares, who shot a 67 to move to eight-under for the tournament, and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen is another shot further back after his 69.
Scotland’s Callum Macaulay had the first hole-in-one of the tournament when he aced the par-three 15th, using a seven-iron off the tee.
SA Open Round Two Scores
133 - Pablo Martin (ESP) 65 68
135 - Anders Hansen (DEN) 66 69
136 - Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 69 67
137 - Louis Oosthuizen 68 69, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 68 69
138 - Dawie van der Walt 65 73, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 69 69, Martin Erlandsson (SWE) 64 74, James Kingston 72 66
139 - Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 71 68, Callum Macaulay (SCO) 70 69, Richard Finch (ENG) 68 71, Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 68
140 - Richard McEvoy (ENG) 71 69, Richard Sterne 71 69, Thomas Aiken 69 71, Michael Hoey (NIR) 70 70
141 - Andrew Coltart (SCO) 74 67, Carl Suneson (ESP) 71 70, Michiel Bothma 68 73, Jean Hugo 72 69, Kenneth Ferrie (ENG) 71 70, George Coetzee 74 67, Carlos Rodiles (ESP) 70 71, Damien McGrane (IRL) 69 72, Chris Swanepoel 72 69
142 - Branden Grace 72 70, Tyrone Ferreira 71 71, Richie Ramsay (SCO) 67 75, Alan McLean (SCO) 69 73, Joost Luiten (NED) 73 69, Ulrich van den Berg 69 73, Soren Hansen (DEN) 70 72, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70
143 - Gareth Maybin (NIR) 75 68, Steve Basson 73 70, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 69 74, JG Claassen (AMA) 74 69, Dion Fourie 71 72, Dylan Frittelli (AMA) 69 74, Andre Cruse 72 71, Michael Jonzon (SWE) 68 75, Jaco Van Zyl 76 67, Brandon Pieters 74 69, John Bickerton (ENG) 73 70, Jbe' Kruger 72 71, Rhys Davies (WAL) 73 70, Keith Horne 71 72, Peter Karmis 70 73
144 - Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 79 65, Simon Khan (ENG) 73 71, Oskar Henningsson (SWE) 74 70, Darren Fichardt 73 71, Garth Mulroy 72 72, Gary Murphy (IRL) 75 69, Fredrik Ohlsson (SWE) 71 73, Oliver Bekker 72 72, Grant Muller 72 72, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 71 73, James Kamte 70 74, Louis Moolman 70 74, Jacques Blaauw 69 75, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 74 70, Marco Ruiz (PAR) 74 70
145 - Peter Whiteford(SCO) 73 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 73, Charl Schwartzel 77 68, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 73 72, David Hewan 77 68, David Drysdale (SCO) 75 70, Doug McGuigan 70 75, Thabang Simon 75 70, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 76 69, Richard Bland (ENG) 73 72, Ryan Dreyer (AMA) 73 72, TC Charamba (ZIM) 73 72, Robert Rock (ENG) 71 74, Markus Brier (AUT) 71 74, Paul Waring (ENG) 73 72, James Morrison (ENG) 72 73
Missed the cut:-
146 - Ignacio Garrido (ESP) 76 70, Anton Haig 75 71, Shane Lowry (IRL) 78 68, Christiaan Basson 76 70, Jake Roos 73 73, Josh Cunliffe 73 73, Phillip Price (WAL) 72 74, Titch Moore 73 73, Jamie Elson (ENG) 70 76
147 - Desvonde Botes 74 73, Mark F Haastrup (DEN) 76 71, Tyrone van Aswegen 76 71, Keenan Davidse 76 71, Albert Pistorius 76 71, Bennie van der Merwe 72 75
148 - Alex Haindl 82 66, Charl Coetzee 76 72, Neil Schietekat 74 74, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 76 72, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 79 69, Gavan Levenson 72 76, Ross McGowan (ENG) 77 71, Robert Coles (ENG) 73 75, Jarmo Sandelin (SWE) 76 72
149 - Hendrik Buhrmann 74 75, Andrew Butterfield (ENG) 77 72, Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 77 72, David Dixon (ENG) 75 74, Julien Quesne (FRA) 76 73, Steven Jeppesen (SWE) 77 72, Julien Guerrier (FRA) 73 76, Stuart Clark (WAL) 72 77, Sam Little (ENG) 74 75, Barry Lane (ENG) 76 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr 75 74, Andrew Curlewis 78 71
150 - Irvin Mazibuko 79 71, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 74 76, Mark Murless 74 76, Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR) 75 75, John Parry (ENG) 76 74, Shaun Norris 78 72
151 - Neil Cheetham (ENG) 79 72, Gary Boyd (ENG) 77 74, Ariel Canete (ARG) 72 79, Chris Williams 71 80, Gary Clark (ENG) 75 76
152 - Alan Michell 79 73, Bradford Vaughan 74 78, Derick Petersen 81 71, Warren Abery 80 72, Des Terblanche 73 79, Oliver Fisher (ENG) 75 77, Justin Walters (ENG) 75 77, Andrew Tampion (AUS) 82 70, Adrian Ford (AMA) 75 77
153 - Prinavin Nelson 79 74, Reggie Adams 77 76, Clinton Whitelaw 77 76, Eugen Marugi 78 75
154 - Gary Lockerbie (ENG) 79 75, Jaco Ahlers 76 78, Deane Pappas 75 79, Trevor Dodds (NAM) 77 77
156 - Peter Baker (ENG) 77 79, Christian Ries 76 80
157 - Nic Henning 75 82, Wayne Westner 77 80, Merrick Bremner 82 75
158 - Heinrich Bruiners 83 75, Divan van den Heever 79 79
159 - Leon Knoll (AMA) 81 78, Tyrone Mordt 81 78
160 - Dean Lambert 76 84
RTD - Hennie Otto RTD RTD, Omar Sandys 84 RTD