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Georgiou fires to set Round 2 lead

Lusaka - Andrew Georgiou will go into the weekend at the Zambia Sugar Open two strokes ahead of CJ du Plessis after he carded a seven-under-par 66 at Lusaka Golf Club.

According to the Sunshine Tour website, Georgiou was three shots back of the lead after round one, however six birdies in-a-row through holes nine to 14 saw him card the round of the day.

“It was a good start with a lot of pars early on. I was hitting the ball nicely. I made a good birdie I think on the fourth hole, got the momentum going, couple good pars after that and then I hit it to about a foot on number nine. It was kind of unexpected to be honest, I was just plodding along. I tapped in there and then had five birdies in-a-row or something like that,” said Georgiou.

Much of the talk in the last two days has been centred around the two nines and Georgiou says he is enjoying the challenge of the golf course.

“It’s such a great golf course and there are so many par-fives out here that you can definitely have many low numbers. I mean there are a couple eagle opportunities, but yeah I’m thrilled. Six birdies in-a-row and just one silly bogey on 17, but I finished nicely with a birdie on 18 so I’m happy with the way I finished. I’m putting nicely so the putts are going to go and there are enough par-fives around here, that if you just hit them on the green in two, you can two-putt your way around here and shoot four or five-under.”

Georgiou has taken inspiration from Bernhard Langer of late, with the legendary German golfer impressing with his long putter.

“This year has been tricky, having to change putters the first couple weeks. I tried the short putter, and I saw Bernhard have some success overseas and I thought ‘I’ll put the long one back in the bag’ and this was the first time it actually clicked. I’ve been working hard to feel as comfortable as I did last year. I think I had 24 putts today so I’m looking forward to it.”

Georgiou is adamant on sticking to his game plan and learning from his 2015 Zambia Open experiences.

“I was in a similar position last year and this year I’m going to do the old cliché and play my own game. I’m really going to just focus as well as I can on what I’m doing and not worry about anything else.”

Round one leader James Kamte looked to have control of the tournament, however a double-bogey, bogey-bogey finish saw him sign for a one-over-par 74.

CJ du Plessis carded a flawless six-under-par 67 and he feels at home at Lusaka Golf Club heading into the weekend.

Du Plessis commented: “I grew up on a similar golf course. You know, tree-lined and the rough is dusty, and panned greens. It feels like home. I’ve always played well here. I grew up playing Kameeldoring Country Club in Potgietersrus, which feels so similar.”

Reaffirming the front-nine and back-nine differences, Du Plessis said going low at Lusaka Golf Club requires a solid front-nine and a good display on the back-nine’s four par-fives. “It just depends on the front-nine, which is the tougher nine with only one par-five. If you can play the front-nine well then you’ve got a really good chance for a low score,” he added.

Ulrich van den Berg carded nine straight pars on his front-nine and made three birdies on his back-nine to card a two-under-par 71 and share third place alongside England’s Jack Harrison.

Harrison went one better than van den Berg, carding a three-under-par 70.

“It was a tail of two halves really. Front nine was all over the place, in the trees. The back-nine was nice and steady with three birdies and pars on the rest,” said Van den Berg.

Madalitso Muthiya, the hometown hero, remained at three-under-par for the tournament after carding a level-par round of 73.

Scores:

135 - Andrew Georgiou (CYP) 69 66

137 - CJ du Plessis (RSA) 70 67

138 - Ulrich van den Berg (RSA) 67 71, Jack Harrison (ENG) 68 70

139 - Jean Hugo (RSA) 69 70, Doug McGuigan (SCO) 70 69, Chris Swanepoel (RSA) 71 68, Calvin Pearson (RSA) 69 70

140 - James Kamte (RSA) 66 74, Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 71 69, Ruan de Smidt (RSA) 70 70

141 - Scott Vincent (ZIM) 71 70, Jonathan Agren (SWE) 71 70, Russel Franz (RSA) 71 70, Allan Versfeld (RSA) 68 73, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 72 69, Colin Nel (RSA) 69 72

142 - Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA) 72 70, Zander Lombard (RSA) 73 69, Drikus van der Walt (RSA) 72 70, Jason Froneman (RSA) 69 73, Louis de Jager (RSA) 70 72,TC Charamba (ZIM) 75 67

143 - Morne Buys (RSA) 68 75, Jean-Paul Strydom (RSA) 71 72, Stephen Ferreira (POR) 73 70, JC Ritchie (RSA) 76 67, Steve Surry (ENG) 71 72, Teaghan Gauche (RSA) 67 76,Keenan Davidse (RSA) 73 70, Alexander Knappe (GER) 73 70, Merrick Bremner (RSA) 73 70, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 70 73

144 - Christofer Blomstrand (SWE) 73 71, Le Roux Ferreira (RSA) 75 69, Lyle Rowe (RSA) 74 70, Jaco Prinsloo (RSA) 70 74, Oliver Bekker (RSA) 71 73,Ryan Tipping (RSA) 70 74, Jared Harvey (RSA) 72 72, Wallie Coetsee (RSA) 72 72, Breyten Meyer (RSA) 73 71, Heinrich Bruiners (RSA) 76 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA) 73 71

145 - Thanda Mavundla (RSA) 75 70, Etienne Bond (RSA) 73 72, JJ Senekal (RSA) 76 69, Danie van Tonder (RSA) 73 72, Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 70 75,Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 72 73, Teboho Sefatsa (RSA) 73 72, Bradford Vaughan (RSA) 74 71, Bryce Easton (RSA) 74 71, Andrew Curlewis (RSA) 74 71,Neil Schietekat (RSA) 69 76, Rourke van der Spuy (RSA) 78 67

146 - Justin Harding (RSA) 74 72, Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 74 72, Henry Featherstone (ENG) 73 73, MJ Viljoen (RSA) 73 73, Steven Ferreira (RSA) 75 71, Jeff Hopkins (IRL) 73 73

147 - Dayne Moore (ZAM) 70 77, Michael Hollick (RSA) 71 76, Lean Boezaart (RSA) 74 73, Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN) 73 74, Dwayne Basson (RSA) 71 76,Nemanja Savic (SRB) 71 76, Kevin Rundle (RSA) 71 76

Missed the cut:

148 - Christiaan Basson (RSA) 75 73, Shankar Natarajan (ZAM) (AMA) 77 71, Aaron Simfukwe Jnr (ZAM) (AMA) 74 74, Patrick Mwendapole (ZAM) 72 76,Arthur Horne (SWZ) 75 73, Titch Moore (RSA) 74 74, Francois Coetzee (RSA) 79 69, Tyrone Ferreira (RSA) 71 77, David Wakhu (KEN) 74 74

149 - Jaiveer Virk (IND) 75 74, Irvin Mazibuko (RSA) 72 77, Roy Da Costa (POR) 79 70, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 76 73, Martin Rominger (SUI) 72 77, Jason Viljoen (RSA) 78 71

150 - Werner van Niekerk (RSA) 78 72, PH McIntyre (RSA) 73 77, Kelvin Phiri (ZAM) 78 72, Stuart Smith (BOT) 71 79, Grant Veenstra (RSA) 70 80, Andre de Decker (RSA) 73 77,Paul de Beer (RSA) 77 73

151 - Cosmas Mufaya (ZAM) 77 74, Andrew Odoh (NGA) 74 77

152 - Armandt Scholtz (RSA) 73 79, Matthew Carvell (RSA) 77 75

153 - Jake Redman (RSA) 72 81, Mark Williams (ZIM) 76 77, Jason Diab (RSA) 82 71

154 - Neal Herman (RSA) 77 77, Charl Coetzee (RSA) 81 73, Omar Sandys (RSA) 78 76, Ludovic Bax (MUS) 78 76

155 - Beza Daka (ZAM) 79 76, Zachary Portemont (USA) 78 77, Divan van den Heever (RSA) 79 76, Sydney Wemba (ZAM) (AMA) 75 80, Derick Petersen (RSA) 77 78,Bryn Flanagan (RSA) 78 77, Daniel Hammond (RSA) 77 78, Wynand Dingle (RSA) 80 75

156 - Kayyam Rauf Mandhu (ZIM) 80 76, Akil Yousuf (ENG) 72 84, Ooko Obura (KEN) 77 79, Ruan Pretorius (RSA) 75 81, Kangwine Chiluba (ZAM) 78 78

157 - Nyasha Muyambo (ZIM) 77 80, Boyd Kapalamoto (ZAM) (AMA) 81 76, Greg Bentley (ZIM) 81 76, Stephan de Beer (RSA) 77 80

158 - Michael Baylis (ZIM) 78 80, Bryce Bibby (RSA) 75 83

159 - Dezzie Ngandu (ZAM) (AMA) 76 83, Denmark Mulambo (ZAM) (AMA) 77 82, Robson Saurombe (ZIM) 77 82, Trainos Muradzikwa (ZIM) 78 81

160 - Bruce Chanda (ZAM) 82 78, Moses Chewe (ZAM) (AMA) 86 74

161 - Peter Munyinya (ZAM) (AMA) 80 81, Shane Granger (BOT) 81 80, Mohammed Zulu (ZAM) 77 84

164 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu (ZIM) 80 84, Gabriel Chibale (ZAM) (AMA) 84 80

166 - Thabang Simon (RSA) 81 85

167 - Kelvin Chibuye (ZAM) (AMA) 84 83

168 - Brian Gondo (ZIM) 83 85

DSQ - Charlie Butts (ZAM) (AMA) DSQ DSQ, Hennie du Plessis (RSA) 72 DSQ

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