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Schwartzel’s eagle sees him grab SA Open lead

Cape Town – Charl Schwartzel recovered from a poor tee shot on 17 on Friday to make eagle on the Bushwillow course at Randpark Golf Club and finish the second round of the South African Open Championship hosted by City of Joburg with a one-stroke lead.

The 2011 Masters champion came home in six-under-par 30 on a day of blustery wind to cap a bogey-free round of eight-under 63. That saw him finish on 12-under at the halfway stage, with Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya in second after his three-under-par 68 on the Firethorn course.

“The drive on 17 was probably one of my worst tee shots for the week,” said Schwartzel. “I figured if I could walk off with four or five, it would be good. I managed to hit a really good little third shot there. They don’t happen very often.

“I had 70 yards in, and I couldn’t leave it below the flag because it would have spun back into the water. I knew that there was a bank behind the green, end even without too much spin, the ball will always come back from that.”

With both courses played by all the players, the halfway cut sees the action move to Firethorn for the weekend, and a one-shot edge for Schwartzel might prove crucial on the course which is generally acknowledged to be the tougher of the two at Randpark.

He’s fighting confidence demons which have plagued his game lately, but he’s welcoming signs that he might be close to quelling those. “I still can’t figure out why I’m not getting the performances I need, even after that round!” he laughed. “I’ve had a few tournaments where I’ve played well like this, so I’m not going to talk too much yet. There’s lots of golf to play. All I know is I’m playing well. I’m driving the ball well and I haven’t been doing that consistently.”

Muthiya overcame a double-bogey six on the 13th on Bushwillow on his way to his second spot at the halfway mark in the tournament. “I was pleased that I managed to bounce back after the blemish,” he said. “I am very happy that I was able to hang in there and not let that distract me in terms of finishing off the round.”

In a share of third at the cut were last week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open winner Kurt Katayama of the US, South African Zander Lombard and 2010 Open champion and first-round leader Louis Oosthuizen. Katayama ground his way to two-under on Bushwillow, Lombard overcame a triple bogey on the third on the same course before recovering on the back nine for his three-under, and Oosthuizen kept overcoming adversity often enough to card one-under 70 on Firethorn.

“I felt I just kept it together and just got the round done and didn’t play myself out of it completely,” said Oosthuizen. “The wind made it tough. It’s like you’re backing off the whole time, you’re not committing. It’s just difficult, especially up here where the ball does go further as well.”

Perhaps the tough conditions will be just what Schwartzel needs to keep his confidence high as he goes in search of his maiden national open championship title, and redemption for the shock playoff loss to Andy Sullivan back in 2014.

“It’s always nice to be in contention, it’s nice to feel like I’m playing well, and it’s on golf courses that I’m familiar with,” said Schwartzel. “I’m looking forward to the weekend.”


Scores:

130 - Charl Schwartzel 67 63

131 - Madalitso Muthiya 63 68

132 - Kurt Kitayama 63 69, Zander Lombard 64 68, Louis Oosthuizen 62 70

133 - Jbe' Kruger 66 67, Mark Williams 65 68

134 - Branden Grace 66 68, Matt Wallace 65 69

135 - Yikeun Chang 70 65, Thomas Aiken 67 68

136 - Adilson Da Silva 66 70, Daniel van Tonder 69 67, Bernd Ritthammer 67 69

137 - Shaun Norris 70 67, Jaco Van Zyl 70 67, Anton Haig 68 69, Jeff Winther 68 69, Hennie Otto 69 68, Ewen Ferguson 69 68, Bryce Easton 68 69, Robert Macintyre 70 67, Ernie Els 66 71, Jovan Rebula 67 70, Romain Langasque 69 68

138 - Alex Haindl 69 69, Matthew Nixon 69 69, Callum Mowat 71 67, Daniel Greene 70 68, Wilco Nienaber 69 69, Brandon Stone 71 67, Haydn Porteous 68 70, Tapio Pulkkanen 69 69, Duane Keun 71 67, David McIntyre 66 72, Stuart Manley 67 71, Max Schmitt 66 72, Jake Roos 66 72, Anthony Michael 67 71, Tyrone Ferreira 65 73

139 - Jack Harrison 68 71, Joel Girrbach 70 69, Steven Brown 71 68, Alejandro Canizares 73 66, Tom Murray 66 73, Marc Warren 68 71, Jacques Blaauw 70 69, Oliver Wilson 73 66, CJ du Plessis 70 69, Andre Nel 71 68, Keith Horne 71 68, Alexander Knappe 73 66, Henric Sturehed 68 71, Matias Calderon 68 71, Callum Shinkwin 68 71, Neil Schietekat 72 67

140 - John Catlin 70 70, Austin Connelly 69 71, Deon Germishuys 70 70, Jarin Todd 68 72, Michael Palmer 70 70, Yurav Premlall 73 67, JJ Senekal 70 70, Laurie Canter 72 68, Chris Paisley 70 70, Jake Redman 68 72, Matthew Jordan 67 73, David Gleeson 75 65, Gregory Bourdy 70 70, Pedro Figueiredo 67 73

Missed the cut:-

141 - Rourke van der Spuy 73 68, Michael Hollick 70 71, Jose-Filipe Lima 72 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 71, Marcel Siem 66 75, Lyle Rowe 72 69, Martin Wiegele 68 73, Gregory Havret 67 74, Eirik Tage Johansen 68 73, David Lipsky 69 72, Darren Fichardt 72 69, Keenan Davidse 73 68, Justin Harding 69 72, Robert Karlsson 70 71, Jeunghun Wang 72 69, Dawie Van der Walt 69 72, Steve Surry 71 70

142 - Simon Forsstrom 71 71, Baejong Park 71 71, Louis de Jager 71 71, Marcel Schneider 69 73, Jaco Ahlers 71 71, Matthieu Pavon 71 71, Bernd Wiesberger 71 71, Merrick Bremner 68 74, Jaco Prinsloo 73 69, David Borda 70 72, Ajeetesh Sandhu 72 70, Justin Walters 70 72, Dean Burmester 67 75

143 - Dimitrios Papadatos 70 73, Desne Van Den Bergh 71 72, Viraj Madappa 75 68, Adrien Saddier 70 73, Yubin Jung 70 73, Ryan Cairns 68 75, Pablo Larrazabal 71 72, Trevor Immelman 72 71, Jared Harvey 72 71, Mitch Waite 70 73, Scott Gregory 74 69, Luke Jerling 75 68, Nick Cullen 75 68, Stephen Ferreira 70 73, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 71 72, Jacques Kruyswijk 70 73, Vaughn Groenewald 69 74, Louis Albertse 73 70, MJ Viljoen 72 71, Guido Migliozzi 69 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 73 70, Malcolm Kokocinski 75 68, Sean Crocker 71 72, Yanwei Liu 71 72

144 - Michiel Bothma 70 74, Kristoffer Reitan 69 75, Matteo Manassero 73 71, Colin Nel 71 73, Garth Mulroy 71 73, Kalle Samooja 68 76, Miguel Angel Carballo 71 73, Scott Vincent 72 72, Oliver Farr 74 70, Per Langfors 68 76, Duncan Stewart 68 76, Gavin Moynihan 75 69, Ben Evans 68 76, Daniel Gavins 74 70, Filippo Bergamaschi 74 70, Herman Loubser 74 70, Christiaan Basson 73 71, Joachim B. Hansen 70 74, George Coetzee 71 73, Jack Singh Brar 74 70, Lionel Weber 76 68, Heinrich Bruiners 71 73, Andre De Decker 72 72, Rhys West 70 74

145 - Steven Lecuyer 72 73, Allister de Kock 74 71, Hennie du Plessis 73 72, Sebastian Soderberg 72 73, Dylan Frittelli 73 72, Chris Cannon 73 72, Carlos Pigem 70 75, Chikkarangappa S 74 71, Clement Sordet 72 73, Neil O'Briain 76 69, Thriston Lawrence 70 75, Max Orrin 73 72, Toto Thimba 73 72, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez 70 75, Connor Syme 73 72, Ockie Strydom 71 74, Espen Kofstad 75 70

146 - Deyen Lawson 72 74, Minkyu Kim 72 74, Grant Forrest 72 74, Derick Petersen 75 71, Dean O'Riley 74 72, Lorenzo Gagli 72 74, Hyowon Park 75 71, Philip Eriksson 75 71, Scott Jamieson 76 70, Rhys Enoch 73 73, Niklas Lemke 70 76, Ryan Evans 72 74, Paul Peterson 70 76, Chase Koepka 76 70, Andrew Curlewis 74 72

147 - Roberto Lupini 72 75, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 73 74, Richard Sterne 73 74, Edoardo Molinari 74 73, Ross McGowan 71 76, Liam Johnston 76 71, Michael Hoey 75 72, Fezekile Kana 73 74, Ruan Conradie 72 75, Masahiro Kawamura 78 69, Jean Hugo 78 69, Ruan de Smidt 72 75, Marco Iten 76 71

148 - Franklin Manchest 75 73, Ruan Korb 72 76, Christofer Blomstrand 75 73

149 - Jack Senior 72 77, Christo Lamprecht 72 77, Kyle Pilgrim 76 73, Breyten Meyer 73 76, Bryce Myburgh 75 74, Joseph Dean 71 78, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 76, Jake Higginbottom 79 70, Keelan Africa 73 76, Francois Coetzee 73 76

150 - Pieter Moolman 74 76, Titch Moore 72 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 78 72, Casey O'Toole 75 75, Tyrone Ryan 78 72, Berry Henson 80 70, Wynand Dingle 73 77

151 - Bowen Xiao 76 75, Conway Kunneke 80 71, Borja Virto 75 76, Kyle Barker 78 73, Marthin Scheepers 78 73

152 - Luke Joy 79 73, Riekus Nortje 75 77, Morten Orum Madsen 76 76, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 78 74, James Kamte 75 77, Cameron Moralee 80 72, Altaaf Bux 77 75, Nicholaus Frade 71 81, Doug McGuigan 78 74

153 - Leon Visser 75 78, Jabulane Mabilane 74 79, Jonathan Agren 80 73

154 - Wallie Coetsee 73 81, Fredrik From 75 79, Khalin Joshi 74 80

155 - Pavit Tangkamolprasert 81 74, Matt Saulez 80 75, Mathias Gronberg 76 79

156 - Marc Cayeux 80 76

WD - Kim Koivu 75 WD, Ulrich van den Berg 79 WD

RTD - David Drysdale 73 RTD


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