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George - Jaco van Zyl converted a piece of good fortune on 18 at The Links Fancourt into an eagle-three and a share of the second round lead in the R3.75 million Dimension Data Pro-Am on Friday.
His difficult chip from the front of the green looked for all the world as if it would go over the pin and bounce off the back of the putting surface. Instead, the ball got snagged up in the flag, stayed caught up for a moment and then dropped into the hole.
"It was a really tough flag," he said, "and my second shot was a bit far right, and I needed to hit a really delicate little pitch shot. The only way of doing it was to try and take the slope out of play. I tried to float it into the breeze and spin it as much as possible. It came out a bit too low, and next thing it hit the flag, and disappeared."
The players have a round on each of The Links, Outeniqua and Montagu before the cut to 65 and ties and the final round on Montagu on Sunday.
The eagle saw Van Zyl finish on 13-under-par after his opening round of four-under on Outeniqua the day before, and that score was matched when Hennie Otto also had a good day on The Links, closing with three successive birdies for his seven-under 67 which didn’t have a bogey on the card.
Van Zyl’s round was similarly flawless, and the eagle gave him a course-record-equalling 64. He did concede that the course was playing as benignly as it ever has or will.
"The weather was absolutely spectacular, and it was set up fairly generously," he said.
His playing partner Simon Dyson agreed after his six-under 66 moved him to 12-under for the tournament, one off the pace.
"The course was pretty easy, to be fair," he said.
"It was pretty soft and there were some generous pins, and I think that was as easy as you’ll ever play The Links."
The pair made 14 birdies between them, and that seemed to create a bit of rivalry.
"We kind of fed off each other," said Dyson.
"He played nicely and holed some good putts, and I played nicely and holed some good putts."
Van Zyl also fed off Dyson.
"It’s always good playing with him - he’s like a little Energizer bunny around the golf course," he said.
For Otto, the key was hitting his approaches close.
"If you can hit your second shots close to the hole and in the right spot on The Links, that makes a difference," he said. For Van Zyl, it’s a question of keeping things as uncomplicated as they have been, as he finds himself in contention for the second weekend in a row.
"I’m looking forward to playing two rounds in a row on Montagu now," he said.
He faltered down the stretch in last week’s Africa Open as Darren Fichardt won, so he needs to keep things on an even keel for the final two rounds.
"I hope I can get into a nice rhythm and pull this one off," he said.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
-13 - Jaco van Zyl 68 64, Hennie Otto 66 66
-12 - Simon Dyson (ENG) 66 67
-9 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 67, Wallie Coetsee 72 64, Dean Burmester 68 67, Daniel Brooks (ENG) 68 67, Andrew Marshall (ENG) 69 67, Dawie Van der Walt 67 68
-8 - Jared Harvey 68 69, Jaco Ahlers 67 69, Tjaart van der Walt 67 69
-7 - Jean Hugo 67 71, Justin Harding 65 72, James Kingston 67 71, Ockie Strydom 68 69, Mark Tullo (CHI) 69 69, Merrick Bremner 69 68, Christiaan Basson 69 69
-6 - Thomas Aiken 70 69, Danie van Tonder 71 68, Ruan de Smidt 70 69, Jake Roos 70 68, Alan McLean (SCO) 70 69, Tyrone Ryan 69 69
-5 - Garth Mulroy 69 71, Darren Fichardt 68 72, Torben Baumann (GER) 68 72, Scott Arnold (AUS) 65 75, Desvonde Botes 67 72
-4 - Steven Ferreira 69 72, Lasse Jensen(DEN) 68 73, Andrew Georgiou 69 71, Martin du Toit 71 70, Brandon Detweiler (USA) 71 69, Brandon Pieters 72 68, Tyrone Ferreira 71 69, Seve Benson (ENG) 74 66, Michiel Bothma 68 72
-3 - Thabo Maseko 74 68, Theunis Spangenberg 68 73, Alexander Levy (FRA) 71 71, Ulrich van den Berg 72 69, Martin Rominger (SUI) 69 72, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 68 73, Louis de Jager 72 70, Oliver Bekker 71 71, Johan de Beer 72 70
-2 - Vaughn Groenewald 74 68, Irvin Mazibuko 71 71, Keith Horne 71 72, Graeme Storm (ENG) 72 71, Justin Walters 72 70, Teboho Sefatsa 74 69, Rhys Davies (WAL) 70 73, Jacques Blaauw 71 72, Alastair Forsyth (SCO) 71 71, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 74 69
-1 - Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 70 74, Laurie Canter (ENG) 69 74, Le Roux Ferreira 75 68, Dean O'Riley 71 73, Colin Nel 71 72, Brett Liddle 69 75, Charl Coetzee 73 70, Doug McGuigan 72 71, PH McIntyre 70 74, Mark F Haastrup (DEN) 74 70, John Moore (USA) 72 71, Neil Schietekat 71 72, Attie Schwartzel 73 71, Divan van den Heever 73 70
Par - Ross McGowan (ENG) 71 74, Johan Bekker 77 68, Ryan Tipping 73 71, Daniel Im (USA) 72 73, Allan Versfeld 70 75, Clifford Howes 74 71, Titch Moore 70 75, Jean-Paul Strydom 70 75
+1 - Hendrik Buhrmann 72 74, Lyle Rowe 71 74, Tyrone Mordt 77 68, Peter Uihlein (USA) 69 77, Dylan Frittelli 68 78, Jake Redman 77 69, Micky Hough (ZIM) 69 77, Henk Alberts 72 74, Shaun Smith 76 70, James Kamte 70 76, Michael Gligic (CAN) 72 74
+2 - Gregory Molteni (ITA) 68 78, Juan Langeveld 78 69, Warren Abery 72 75, Jacques Kruyswijk 76 70, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 76 70, Alan Michell 73 74, Chris Lloyd (ENG) 75 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 77, Michael Hollick 72 74, Divan Gerber 79 68
+3 - Bryce Easton 71 76, Anthony Michael 72 76, Steve Surry (ENG) 79 69, MJ Daffue 77 71, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 75 72, Grant Veenstra 74 73, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 76 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 77 71, Grant Muller 76 72, Anthony Snobeck (FRA) 78 70, Andrew Curlewis 73 74, Ben Mannix (ENG) 76 72
+4 - Chris Swanepoel 74 74, Joshua Cunliffe 76 72, Wynand Dingle 75 74, Pieter Moolman 79 70, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 75 74, Matthew Carvell 75 74, James Busby (ENG) 73 75, Jacques van Tonder 69 80, Matthew Southgate (ENG) 73 75, Shaun Ellis 77 71, Keenan Davidse 69 80, Albert Pistorius 73 76
+5 - Kyle Stevens 74 76, Gert Myburgh 73 77, Mark Murless 75 75, Shaun Norris 73 77, Makgetha Mazibuko 76 73, Desne van den Bergh 74 75, Langley Perrins 73 76
+6 - Morne Buys 75 76, Graham van der Merwe 80 71, Louis Calitz 77 74, Bradley Sinnett 77 74, Bennie van der Merwe 78 73, Gerhard Trytsman 75 75, Oscar Floren (SWE) 78 73, JP van der Walt 79 72, Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) 76 75, Riekus Nortje 75 76, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 76 75
+7 - Michael du Toit 75 77, Alex Haindl 70 82, Chris Erasmus 80 71, Daniel Hammond 77 75, Francesco Laporta (ITA) 73 79
+8 - Derik Ferreira 83 70, Bradford Vaughan 80 72
+9 - Nic Henning 78 76, CJ du Plessis 79 75, Ross Wellington 77 77
+10 - Callum Macaulay (SCO) 78 77, Johan du Buisson 70 85, Drikus van der Walt 73 82
+11 - Duane Keun 80 76
+12 - Darryn Lloyd 83 74, Mark Williams 83 74
+13 - David Hewan 76 82, Coenie Bester 80 78, JG Claassen 77 80
+15 - JJ Senekal 84 76
+17 - Maritz Wessels 77 85
+25 - Thabang Simon 80 90
- - Daniel Greene 76 RTD, Bryan Martin (USA) RTD RTD
- - Nick Dougherty (ENG) 78 DSQ
