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Lusaka - Rhys Enoch played the five par-fives at Lusaka Golf Club in six-under-par on Friday to race to an eight-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead at the halfway mark of the Zanaco Masters.
He made six birdies and an eagle in his round without dropping a shot, and, together with his impressive opening 68, has moved to 13-under-par after 36 holes. Four of those birdies and the eagle came on the par-fives.
"It was just a professional round of golf," he said. "I took care of the par-fives early and then just kept ticking. It wasn't as pretty as yesterday's round but I just kept making pars and I started rolling in some putts towards the end which got me up even more."
He led Jaco Ahlers by one, after Ahlers had matched his feat of going six-under for the par-fives in his seven-under-par 66. Rourke van der Spuy carded an eventful three-under 69 with five bogeys, six birdies and an eagle to occupy third spot on nine-under, four off the lead.
Enoch started his round on the 10th, and with the back nine of Lusaka Golf Club having four par-fives on it, he was soon shooting up the leaderboard as he turned in five-under-par 33, with three birdies and an eagle on those long holes.
A birdie on the only par-five on the front none - the second - completed his par-five scoring collection for the day, but there were two more birdies to be had on the third and the ninth.
Much of his success was due to his putting. "I started making just about everything I looked at yesterday, with three 20-footers in a row which was nice," he said.
"To finish today, I holed a nice one on nine, and holed about a 10-footer for par on eight. The putter's rolling really nicely which has helped me up the leaderboard.
"This is the best we've ever seen these greens. There's so much growth and that makes it a lot easier to see the grain and because they've been cut down and rolled so nicely, the grain doesn't do as much as it normally does. There are only four of five holes you've got to watch out for. I just feel I'm reading them pretty nicely and striking them nicely and they seem to be going in."
The difference in the courses between last week's tournament at the difficult Nkana Golf Club, where he finished fifth, and this week's at Lusaka also contributed to Enoch's success.
"Last week helped with my game plan here," he said. "You just had to keep bogeys off your card, and that’s all I'm really trying to do here. It's not negative, but if I'm in any sort of trouble with a flyer-lie here, I just play to the front edge and just try and give myself an easy look at par. That seems to be paying off."
For Enoch, previous success around the course - he came seventh here in 2015 - is contributing to his performance this week.
"This is the second time I've been 13-under after two rounds here," he said. "I don't know what it is about the course. A lot of tee-shots suit my eye and I just enjoy playing here."
He'll enjoy it more if he keeps going the way he is.
"It's never that easy to keep bogeys off the card on the weekend," he acknowledged. "I know it gets a little harder, so I've got to draw on some experience, just be really, really patient and the birdies will come because I'm playing well."
Scores:
133 - Rhys Enoch 68 65
134 - Jaco Ahlers 68 66
137 - Rourke van der Spuy 67 70
138 - JC Ritchie 70 68, Ross McGowan 70 68
139 - Rhys West 70 69, Tristen Strydom 69 70, Luke Jerling 68 71, JJ Senekal 69 70, Jaco Prinsloo 65 74, Thriston Lawrence 72 67, Chris Swanepoel 67 72
140 - Adilson Da Silva 71 69, Garrick Higgo 71 69
141 - Anthony Michael 72 69, Daniel van Tonder 72 69, Chris Cannon 70 71, Deon Germishuys 71 70, Merrick Bremner 73 68, Pieter Moolman 71 70, Peetie van der Merwe 72 69
142 - Titch Moore 70 72, Keith Horne 69 73, Sean Bradley 70 72, Roberto Lupini 72 70, Madalitso Muthiya 71 71, Ruan de Smidt 72 70, Jean Hugo 72 70
143 - Ryan Cairns 69 74, Andrew van der Knaap 71 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 72, Jbe' Kruger 73 70, Michael Palmer 71 72, Kyle McClatchie 66 77, Scott Campbell 73 70, Fredrik From 73 70, Hennie Otto 73 70
144 - Makhetha Mazibuko 74 70, Tyrone Ryan 73 71, Herman Loubser 71 73, Steve Surry 70 74, Lyle Rowe 70 74, Sydney Wemba 71 73, Duane Keun 74 70, Louis Albertse 70 74, Andre Nel 73 71
145 - Mwalikwa Sondashi 70 75, MJ Viljoen 71 74, Martin Rohwer 75 70, Ruan Conradie 71 74, Riekus Nortje 74 71, Matt Bright 73 72, Jason Diab 73 72, Darin de Smidt 72 73, Bennie van der Merwe 74 71
146 - Juran Dreyer 72 74, Jonathan Agren 71 75, Michael Hollick 73 73, Philip Geerts 73 73, Luke Joy 74 72, Jake Roos 73 73, Jacques Blaauw 74 72, Toto Thimba 70 76, Vaughn Groenewald 72 74, Ruan Huysamen 73 73
Missed the cut:-
147 - Estiaan Conradie 70 77, Neil Schietekat 71 76, James Kamte 71 76, Aaron Simfukwe Jnr 73 74, Dylan Kok 75 72, Jacques P de Villiers 70 77, Christiaan Basson 75 72, Philip Eriksson 72 75
148 - Altaaf Bux 76 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 75, Doug McGuigan 76 72, Kyle Barker 72 76, Jason Froneman 74 74
149 - Jade Buitendag 72 77, Dylan Naidoo 78 71, Heinrich Bruiners 77 72, Jonathan Waschefort 80 69, Bradley Diggeden 73 76, TC Charamba 77 72, Jared Harvey 74 75, Simon Ngige 75 74, CJ du Plessis 75 74, Clinton Grobler 76 73
150 - Patrick Mwendapole Snr 73 77, Phillip Kasozi 76 74, Theunis Bezuidenhout 74 76, Combrinck Smit 76 74, Luke Brown 69 81, Matthew Rushton 70 80, Luke Mayo 75 75, Ryan O'Neill 76 74, Teaghan Gauche 73 77, Teboho Sefatsa 75 75, Keelan van Wyk 75 75, Andrew McLardy 73 77
151 - Wallie Coetsee 76 75, Trainos Muradzikwa 75 76, Andrew Odoh 72 79, Kyle Pilgrim 76 75, Rupert Kaminski 78 73, Ockie Strydom 76 75, Bwembwa Chanda 77 74, Damon Stephenson 79 72
152 - Hayden Griffiths 73 79, Sipho Bujela 76 76, Jacquin Hess 77 75, Ruan Korb 78 74, Keenan Davidse 76 76, Derick Petersen 75 77, Thanda Mavundla 75 77
153 - Hendrikus Stoop 75 78, Christopher Van der Merwe 75 78, Stephen Ferreira 79 74
154 - Robson Chinhoi 73 81, Gerrit Foster 75 79, Ryan Tipping 75 79, Shankar Natarajan 75 79, Dylan Mostert 78 76, Basil Wright 78 76, Stefan Wears-Taylor 79 75
155 - Erhard Lambrechts 77 78, Jake Redman 75 80, Tatende Makunde 79 76, Wynand Dingle 80 75, Raphael Phiri 78 77
156 - Gabriel Chibale 77 79, Dayne Moore 81 75, Cameron Moralee 76 80, Franklin Manchest 76 80, Nemanja Savic 80 76, DK Kim 76 80
157 - Breyten Meyer 75 82, Paul Boshoff 81 76
158 - PH McIntyre 82 76, Blair Kuhn 75 83
159 - Sebastain Stobart 81 78, Kelvin Phiri 77 82, Kelly Tembo 74 85
161 - Sitali Nawa 81 80, Wayne Stroebel 82 79, Adriel Poonan 81 80
162 - Tonderayi Masunga 84 78, Bruce Chanda 82 80
163 - Kamil Bham 83 80, Mukuka Mwango Jnr 81 82
166 - Musonda Kapoma 85 81, Morton Muwowo 82 84
167 - Richard Muziya 80 87, Moses Chewe 84 83, Matengele Kaira 83 84
RTD - Callum Mowat
