Cape Town - South African golfers Jaco van Zyl and Brandon Stone continued to struggle at the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Van Zyl could do no better than a three-over-par 74 to lie on three over after two rounds of the 72-hole contest.
That left him a full 13 shots off the leading pace set by Australian Marcus Fraser.
Stone, is even further off behind, a second-round 72 leaving him on five over and in 52nd place out of 60 competitors.
Australian Fraser maintained his lead after birdying the third, fifth and eleventh holes before dropping shots on the 12th and 16th. He would close out the day with a birdie on the 18th.
Belgium's world number 90, Thomas Pieters, is breathing down Fraser's neck just one shot back after carding a five-under 66, starting and finishing his round with three successive birdies.
Open champion Henrik Stenson currently occupies the bronze medal position, two shots behind Fraser, after shooting a three-under 68.
He started off his round with a 58-foot birdie putt on the second green and followed that up with an incredible 109-footer for par at the third.
He then birdied three of his last four holes to make a significant late move.
“In the beginning it was tough conditions, raining hard, and I just made some bombs and probably made the par of my life on the third hole,” Stenson said.
“Bit of a mixed bag out there, but I’m at the races. I’m happy where I’m at halfway through the tournament.”
France's Gregory Bourdy and England's Justin Rose are tied for fourth, four shots adrift of the leader.
Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Graham DeLaet, Fabian Gomez and Danny Lee are in a four way tie for sixth on five under after 36 holes.