Fichardt’s putting comes to the Joburg Open party

Johannesburg - Darren Fichardt got his putting together with a vengeance on Friday as he marched around the East course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club in six-under-par 66 in the incomplete second round of the Joburg Open.

After days of heavy rains, the first round was delayed on Thursday, completed on Friday, and the second round got underway some three-and-a-half hours behind schedule.

Fichardt's round put him one shot clear of Jacques Kruyswijk, but there was a large number of players still to complete round two ahead of the 36-hole cut - among them Paul Waring of England who was at 12-under through 12 holes in his second round, and Dean Burmester on 11-under through 15.

"I have been struggling so much with putting but, a new putter, new grip and I'm very comfortable," Fichardt said.

"I'm feeling very, very good for the first time in a long time. My game has been pretty good for the last two years, it's just that putting is scoring. Putting and chipping is just scoring so that's why I've been scarce on the leaderboard. But I'm feeling very confident, very comfortable with the putting and it’'s nice to stand over a putt and feel like you are going to make it."

Fichardt was one of 98 players who had to complete their opening rounds on Friday morning after play was suspended due to a waterlogged course at 14:35pm local time on Thursday.

More rain overnight caused further delays on Friday, but when play finally got back under way at 09:30am, Fichardt fired two birdies in his final six holes on the West course to get to five under and sit four shots behind overnight leader Paul Peterson.

There was no rest for the four-time European Tour winner, however, who dashed to the East course to begin his second round.

Fichardt holed his five-foot birdie putt at the first before making further gains at the third and fourth to get to eight-under. The 41-year-old picked up another shot at the sixth to join Peterson before a superb eagle at the eighth saw him establish a two-shot lead.

Fichardt dropped his first shot of the tournament so far at the 10th before safely parring the next seven holes.

But a birdie from close range at the last saw him get to 11-under-par.

He was thrilled with his performance on the front nine on the East course.

"I got off to a great start," he said. "I knew it was going to play long and I needed to get off to a good start and that I did.

"I got to six-under pretty quickly - after eight I was six-under so I was very happy about that start. Unfortunately I made a bogey on the tenth and then birdied the 18th, so I ended off well. But I am very happy with 66.

"I haven't stumbled into this position. It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of perseverance. I have been working hard the past seven weeks and I think it’s starting to pay off."

Scores:

-12 - Paul Waring 65 (-5) [12]

-11 - Darren Fichardt 66 66, Dean Burmester 66 (-6) [15]

-10 - Jacques Kruyswijk 63 70

-9 - Haydn Porteous 67 67, Anton Karlsson 66 68, Stuart Manley 67 67, Aaron Rai 65 69, Romain Langasque 65 (-3) [12]

-8 - David Drysdale 64 71, Merrick Bremner 68 67, Keenan Davidse 67 68, Dylan Frittelli 67 (-3) [15]

-7 - Mark Foster 69 67, Scott Jamieson 69 67, Jake Roos 67 69, Jens Fahrbring 68 68, Pontus Widegren 68 68, Oliver Bekker 68 (-4) [15], Brandon Stone 70 (-6) [15], Paul Peterson 62 (+2) [12], Maximilian Kieffer 70 (-5) [9], Pep Angles 66 (-2) [9]

-6 - Tjaart van der Walt 69 68, Paul Dunne 69 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 68 69, Lee Slattery 69 68, Adilson Da Silva 65 72, Louis de Jager 70 67, Ockie Strydom 70 67, Matthieu Pavon 70 67, Max Orrin 66 71, Francesco Laporta 66 71, Paul Maddy 68 69, Marc Warren 68 (-2) [15], James Morrison 68 (-3) [15], Sam Walker 69 (-3) [15], Jaco Ahlers 69 (-4) [12], Damien Perrier 67 (-2) [12], Jaco Prinsloo 67 (-2) [9], Jbe' Kruger 65 (Par) [9], Chris Hanson 67 (-2) [9]

-5 - Tom Lewis 70 68, Anthony Wall 70 68, Graeme Storm 70 68, George Coetzee 66 72, Nino Bertasio 65 73, Toby Tree 68 70, Justin Hicks 70 68, David Law 69 69, Oscar Stark 68 70, Wil Bateman 70 68, Adrian Otaegui 71 67, Laurie Canter 68 (-2) [15], Sebastien Gros 69 (-2) [12], Sebastian Soderberg 66 (+1) [12], JC Ritchie 68 (-2) [12], Joel Stalter 67 (-1) [12], Le Roux Ferreira 71 (-4) [9]

-4 - Duncan Stewart 72 67, Scott Vincent 70 69, Peter Karmis 70 69, Christofer Blomstrand 71 68, Jaco Van Zyl 71 68, Thomas Detry 70 69, Robert Rock 70 69, Soomin Lee 71 68, Ashun Wu 71 68, Justin Harding 72 67, Magnus A Carlsson 69 70, Garth Mulroy 70 69, Daniel Brooks 69 70, Ryan Fox 71 68, Ashley Chesters 71 68, Reinier Saxton 69 70, Andre de Decker 69 70, Andrew McLardy 75 64, Garrick Porteous 74 65, Anthony Michael 68 (-1) [15], Chris Paisley 69 (-1) [15], Erik van Rooyen 73 (-5) [15], Richard Sterne 71 (-4) [15], Jordan Smith 67 (Par) [15], Alexander Bjork 68 (-1) [12], Thomas Linard 69 (-2) [9]

Projected cut

-3 - Oliver Fisher 68 72, Dawie Van der Walt 69 71, Gary Stal 68 72, Renato Paratore 69 71, Rafa Echenique 68 72, Jonathan Agren 68 72, Connor Syme 71 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 72 68, Simon Dyson 71 69, Callum Mowat 73 67, Zander Lombard 74 66, Jean Hugo 73 (-4) [15], Rikard Karlberg 68 (Par) [15], Justin Walters 71 (-2) [15], Thomas Aiken 71 (-3) [15], Andrew Georgiou 68 (Par) [12], Daniel Im 74 (-5) [12], Borja Virto 73 (-4) [9], Jeff Winther 70 (-1) [9], James Heath 71 (-2) [9], Adrien Saddier 70 (-2) [9], Gary King 70 (-2) [9]

-2 - Clement Sordet 69 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 70, Bernd Ritthammer 72 69, Alvaro Quiros 71 70, Nathan Kimsey 71 70, Sipho Bujela 72 69, Shaun Norris 67 74, Jose-Filipe Lima 71 70, Alex Haindl 70 71, Daniel Greene 72 69, Ben Evans 67 74, Julien Guerrier 73 68, Thanda Mavundla 71 70, Titch Moore 68 (+1) [15], Jamie Donaldson 70 (Par) [15], Madalitso Muthiya 71 (-1) [15], Haotong Li 73 (-4) [15], Christiaan Basson 70 (Par) [12], Colin Nel 70 (Par) [12], Richard Mcevoy 71 (-2) [12], Steve Surry 74 (-4) [9], Makhetha Mazibuko 71 (-1) [9], Theunis Spangenberg 70 (Par) [9]

-1 - Ruan de Smidt 72 70, Vaughn Groenewald 69 73, Keith Horne 70 72, Mark Williams 68 74, Matthew Nixon 70 72, Rourke van der Spuy 69 73, Richard S Johnson 69 73, Jared Harvey 72 70, Niclas Johansson 72 70, Johan Carlsson 70 72, Eddie Pepperell 69 73, Doug McGuigan 73 (-2) [12], Y.E Yang 71 (-1) [12], Hennie du Plessis 73 (-3) [12], Robert Dinwiddie 74 (-3) [9], Johan Edfors 71 (-1) [9], Sebastian Heisele 74 (-3) [9]

Par - Bryce Easton 69 74, Niclas Fasth 76 67, Chris Swanepoel 69 74, Trevor Immelman 74 69, Jacques Blaauw 71 72, Darryn Lloyd 72 71, Bryce Bibby 71 72, Teaghan Gauche 66 77, Kyle McClatchie 78 65, Ricardo Gouveia 73 (-2) [15], Morten Orum Madsen 73 (-1) [12], Jamie Rutherford 73 (-1) [12], Pavit Tangkamolprasert 70 (+1) [9], Scott Henry 73 (-1) [9], Marcus Armitage 71 (Par) [9]

+1 - Richard Finch 69 75, Heinrich Bruiners 71 73, Matthew Southgate 71 (+1) [15], Steven Ferreira 75 (-2) [9], Chris Lloyd 77 (-4) [9], Tyrone Ferreira 74 (-2) [9]

+2 - Andrew Curlewis 73 72, James du Preez 74 71, Jeff Hopkins 71 74, Teboho Sefatsa 71 74, David Howell 73 72, Ulrich van den Berg 72 (+1) [12], James Kamte 73 (+1) [12]

+3 - Lyle Rowe 71 75, James Kingston 77 69, Mark Murless 72 74, Gert Myburgh 73 73, Siphiwe Siphayi 74 72, Jacquin Hess 71 75, Drikus van der Walt 74 72, Alexander Knappe 74 72, Ross McGowan 76 (-2) [15], Bradford Vaughan 74 (Par) [12], Steven Tiley 75 (Par) [9]

+4 - Jeev Milkha Singh 78 69, Rhys West 75 72, Wallie Coetsee 75 (+1) [12], Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 (+2) [9], Lindani Ndwandwe 76 (-1) [9], John Parry 73 (+3) [9]

+5 - Darren Clarke 75 73, Pelle Edberg 73 75

+6 - Neil Schietekat 73 76, Leorin Pillay 77 72, Karabo Mokoena 76 73, Desvonde Botes 74 75, CJ du Plessis 74 (+4) [9]

+7 - Omar Sandys 73 77, Allister de Kock 75 (+3) [12]

+8 - Ricardo Gonzalez 76 75, Petr Dedek 74 77

+9 - Jens Dantorp 77 75

+10 - Marc Cayeux 75 78, Michiel Bothma 80 (+2) [9]

+12 - Bryn Flanagan 79 76

WDN - Danie van Tonder 77 WDN [3], Eugen Marugi 75 WDN

RTD - Simon Khan 69 RTD [9]