Ken Borland

With precision driving and his usual brilliant iron play, Donald went shopping for birdies and one of the best putters in the game collected nine of them in all. Not dropping a shot completed a dazzling round for the Englishman, his 63 lifting him to 10-under-par, two shots ahead of overnight leader Ross Fisher.

UPDATE: Nedbank Golf Challenge: Round 3 results

It’s hard to believe based on Friday’s evidence that all has not been right with Donald’s game recently; the first man to win both the European and PGA Tour moneylists in the same year (2011) has not won a tournament since November 2013 and Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley took the difficult decision to leave him off the triumphant Ryder Cup team this year.

“I think everything starts for me when I feel like I can drive it in the fairway and then give myself some opportunities, and then I’m not scrounging around trying to make pars and get up‑and‑down.

“So I gave myself a lot of good opportunities today, I didn’t put myself into too much trouble, and obviously when the putter is warm, it’s always one of my best weapons in the bag. So it was nice to roll in a few today,” Donald said after one of the best rounds ever seen at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Fisher actually regained the lead from his compatriot after a wonderful eagle-birdie combo on the 10^thand 11^th holes, but an offline tee-shot on the par-three 12^th drifted on to the mound next to the green and then bounced deep into the bushes, forcing him to drop and the resulting double-bogey checked his progress.

A wayward drive on 14 led to another bogey and Fisher probably did well to stop the bleeding and par the remaining four holes for a 70 and eight-under-par overall.

“It’s a tough golf course and I don’t feel like I played probably as solid as yesterday. I didn’t hit it as good off the tee. But I still felt like I played pretty solid. I hit one poor tee shot on 14 which cost me a six and had to take a penalty drop there. I got it to five‑under after 11, so I was hoping to kick on and reproduce 66 from yesterday or even a little bit better. But unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, so I still shot under par, even with a couple of those loose shots coming in.

“Today it just seemed like every putt we over‑borrowed. I hit at least half-a-dozen, if not seven or eight putts, that I hit exactly where I wanted to hit it, and just unfortunately was over-reading the greens today,” Fisher said.

Crucial errors on the back nine were also the feature of the two other golfers in the final three-ball – Marcel Siem and George Coetzee.

Siem lost ground with a level-par 72 leaving him on four-under-par, the German suffering successive bogeys on the 14^th and 15^th holes thanks to wayward tee shots.

“It was a strange day, the total opposite from yesterday. It started really nicely, but all of us had problems on the golf course today. It was not like yesterday where we fed from each other. I felt like we were never going to finish, and on 16, we felt the whole tournament was over already. We played five hours, two minutes, just had a really long round and we didn’t play as well as we did yesterday.  Unfortunately the few chances we had on the back nine didn’t drop,” Siem lamented.

Coetzee plummeted even further down the leaderboard after a 74 left him on two-under, the South African dropping three shots on the back nine, including one on the infamous par-five 14^th, where he found the dreaded love-grass.

Another Englishman, Tommy Fleetwood, had the next best round of the day after Donald, a five-under-par 67 that included a rare eagle on the 14^th, as he swiftly recovered from being in the wars on the par-four 13^th.

That lifted Fleetwood to three-under-par overall and in the five-man group tied for sixth. Brendon Todd, Thongchai Jaidee, Charl Schwartzel and Tim Clark are the other golfers on 141.

Ahead of them are Siem, Englishman Danny Willett, who shot a 68 to jump to five-under, and Frenchman Alexander Levy, who posted a solid 70.

“It was a good 70, I’m happy because it’s not my best golf but I managed the golf course well. It’s always good to play 70 on this golf course, it’s very difficult and it’s hot,” Levy said.

Although the English dominance, with four golfers in the top six, will be galling for the home fans, it would be boorish for anybody to begrudge the brilliant Donald his success.

“Obviously nine birdies around this place is a great round and something I was very pleased with. It’s been a while since I played such a solid round,” Donald said.

The man may never have won a Major, but he can certainly produce championship golf as he showed on Friday.

http://citizen.co.za/287619/nedbank-golf-challenge-round-2-update/

The Englishman has handled the vicissitudes of golf like a consummate professional and is coming out of the slump that occurred after he was on top of the world in 2011, becoming the first man to win both the European and PGA tour moneylists.

UPDATE: Nedbank Golf Challenge: Round 2 update

His precision golf on Friday earned him nine birdies, six of them on the front nine he has always found harder, and he did not drop a shot as he recorded the best round at the Nedbank Golf Challenge since Lee Westwood’s 62 in the third round on his way to the 2011 title.

Overnight leader Ross Fisher was still strongly in contention on eight-under-par after a battling 70, while Marcel Siem went backwards with a level-par 72 that left him on four-under. South African fans, however, will be shedding a tear for the other member of the final three-ball, George Coetzee, who plummeted down the leaderboard to a tie for 11th after an error-strewn 74.

Stephen Gallacher roared to five-under-par with an eagle on the par-five 10th, but the Scotsman then disappeared down the Pilanesberg glens as he bogeyed 11 and 18 and double-bogeyed the 17th to finish on one-under-par.

It was left to Frenchman Alexander Levy, with a solid two-under-par 70, to claim third place behind Donald and Fisher on six-under, while another Englishman, Danny Willett, sowed some destruction on the back nine with three successive birdies from the 14th to jump to five-under overall.

There was an air of confidence about Charl Schwartzel’s game on the back nine as he picked up four birdies, but he tumbled down into a share of sixth after a double-bogey on the last hole left him on three-under with four other golfers.

Tommy Fleetwood fired a five-under-par 67 to also climb to three-under, while Tim Clark dropped three shots on the back nine to fall back to the same number, alongside American Brendon Todd and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.

Fleetwood was the first golfer to eagle the infamous par-five 14th this year and he also finished strongly with birdies on the 15th and last hole.

Fisher, Siem and Coetzee all conspired to bogey the 14th to end their chances of catching Donald.

A poor tee shot on the par-three 12th hole cost Fisher the lead as the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge entered the back nine at the Gary Player Country Club.

Fisher had just overtaken fellow Englishman Donald with a stunning eagle-birdie combo at the 10th and 11th holes, but it all ended in tears on the 12th when he found the bushes way right off the tee and had to take a drop. He then chipped short of the green and chipped and putted for a double-bogey to drop back to nine-under-par.

Another wayward tee shot on the 14th forced him to take another drop as he bled another shot.

If the 36-year-old Donald – he turns 37 on Sunday – can win the Nedbank Golf Challenge it would be a tremendous coup for the former world number one whose loss of form since 2011 has been dramatic. Donald has not won a tournament since November 2013 and missed out on the European Ryder Cup team this year.

Levy was not far off the pace as he claimed three successive birdies after the turn to leap to seven-under, just three shots behind, but he parred the next five holes before dropping a shot at the 18th.

Birdies on the third and fourth holes lifted Fisher to eight-under-par, but Donald had already embarked on a dazzling run of five birdies in seven holes to jump to six-under.

Fisher was eight feet from the hole but on the fringe on the par-four third hole, but managed to sink the birdie putt to get his round going.

A top-class tee shot on the 195-metre par-three fourth set up another birdie as he finished just four feet from the hole.

Donald was putting together a superb round as he started with a pair of birdies and then also picked up shots at the par-three fourth and the par-four sixth.

A brilliant approach shot to 10 feet on the par-five second hole set up an eagle for Siem, the German recovering quickly from a three-putt bogey at the first hole. Two more birdies followed on the sixth and seventh holes, but he dropped another stroke on eight and bogeyed 14 and 15 as well.

Coetzee rolled in a birdie putt on the first hole but found himself scrambling for pars on the next three holes, and then his luck ran out with consecutive bogeys on five and six, plus another three dropped shots after the turn.

Gallacher was the other golfer to get on a roll, starting his round with two birdies and then birdieing three in a row from the fourth. He also eagled the 10th.

Jamie Donaldson will take no further part in the Nedbank Golf Challenge after withdrawing shortly before the start of the second round due to severe migraines.

The Welshman is apparently badly ill and was unable to join Mikko Ilonen and Marc Warren in the second group off the tee at 10.21am.

Donaldson shot a 74 in the first round to lie in a tie for 22nd place.

http://citizen.co.za/287565/red-hot-donald-shoots-to-the-top/

Fisher had just overtaken fellow Englishman Luke Donald with a stunning eagle-birdie combo at the 10th and 11th holes, but it all ended in tears on the 12th when he found the bushes way right off the tee and had to take a drop. He then chipped short of the green and chipped and putted for a double-bogey to drop back to nine-under-par.

Donald was heading for port after a sensational round that included nine birdies and lifted him to 10-under-par after 16 holes.

If the 36-year-old – he turns 37 on Sunday – can win the Nedbank Golf Challenge it would be a tremendous coup for the former world number one whose loss of form since winning both the European and PGA tour money-lists in 2011 has been dramatic. Donald has not won a tournament since November 2013 and missed out on the European Ryder Cup team this year.

Marcel Siem and George Coetzee, Fisher’s playing partners in the final three-ball, were left mulling error-strewn rounds that put them on six-under and four-under respectively.

Apart from Donald, another Englishman, Tommy Fleetwood, had the other low round of the day with a five-under-par 67 lifting him to three-under-par overall and in the top-10.

Frenchman Alexander Levy was not far off the pace as he claimed three successive birdies after the turn to leap to seven-under, just three shots behind.

Birdies on the third and fourth holes lifted Fisher to eight-under-par, but Donald had already embarked on a dazzling run of five birdies in seven holes to jump to six-under.

Fisher was eight feet from the hole but on the fringe on the par-four third hole, but managed to sink the birdie putt to get his round going.

A top-class tee shot on the 195-metre par-three fourth set up another birdie as he finished just four feet from the hole.

Fellow Englishman Donald was putting together a superb round as he started with a pair of birdies and then also picked up shots at the par-three fourth and the par-four sixth.

A brilliant approach shot to 10 feet on the par-five second hole set up an eagle for Siem, the German recovering quickly from a three-putt bogey at the first hole. Two more birdies followed on the sixth and seventh holes, but he dropped another stroke on eight.

Coetzee rolled in a birdie putt on the first hole but found himself scrambling for pars on the next three holes, and then his luck ran out with consecutive bogeys on five and six.

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher was the other golfer to get on a roll, starting his round with two birdies and then birdieing three in a row from the fourth. He also eagled the 10th to cancel two bogeys and was on four-under-par overall through 16 holes.

Jamie Donaldson will take no further part in the Nedbank Golf Challenge after withdrawing shortly before the start of the second round due to severe migraines.

The Welshman is apparently badly ill and was unable to join Mikko Ilonen and Marc Warren in the second group off the tee at 10.21am.

Donaldson shot a 74 in the first round to lie in a tie for 22nd place.

http://citizen.co.za/287496/fisher-slips-at-sun-city/