Ken Borland

Englishman Matt Ford was able to make the Africa Open lead his own with a six-under-par 66 in the second round at East London Golf Club on Friday, but four South Africans made significant progress up the leaderboard to keep local hopes alive.

Ford is on 11-under-par at the midway stage, one stroke ahead of Spaniard Edoardo de la Riva, while Jaco van Zyl, who continues to make an impressive comeback from surgery on both knees last year, and Erik van Rooyen are leading the South African charge on eight-under-par, alongside Frenchman Gregory Havret.

The 36-year-old Ford started on the first tee at 7.05am when conditions were relatively calm compared to the blustery first day, and he was able to make four birdies on his first seven holes. His momentum was temporarily halted with a bogey on the ninth after he carted his tee-shot into the thick coastal bush, but he made up for that with a birdie on 10 and an eagle-two on the 12^th hole.

“I played nicely today, I’m very happy. It’s been two good rounds and hopefully there are two to come. I gave myself plenty of opportunities and was inside 15 feet 11 times. I was just trying to hit good shots and take advantage of the slightly easier conditions,” Ford said.

Van Zyl’s knees are not only holding up well but, more importantly, his putter is too after he struggled last weekend at the Joburg Open, his final-round 66 including 33 shots with the short stick.

“I’m probably at about 70% of how well I can drive, but now I’m making the putts. I had 27 yesterday and 25 today. Yesterday was really tough though and I was very chuffed I managed to shoot two-under. It was a lot easier this morning, it was totally different today, a lot of the holes were into a little breeze but there were still quite a few holes to capitalise on,” Van Zyl said after his round that included five birdies, an eagle and just one bogey.

Former world top-10 golfer David Howell is still in contention on seven-under-par, alongside fellow Englishman John Parry, South Africans Neil Schietekat and Trevor Fisher Junior, Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer and Mark Tullo of Chile.

Van Rooyen started on the ninth hole and picked up two birdies on the back nine before bogeying the par-five first. But the 25-year-old who played college golf in the United States, then posted a band of birdies on his scorecard – five in the next six holes – to roar up the leaderboard.

Van Zyl and his fellow South African mates have a proud record to maintain in the Africa Open, with a foreigner not managing to win the title yet after seven editions of the tournament.

“I’ve got to take it one shot at a time and not get ahead of myself. But if I give myself as many opportunities as  I can to win, then it has to happen some time. But you’ve obviously got to play nicely and being in contention brings different pressures and expectations. But life will become a lot easier once I get a co-sanctioned win under the belt,” Van Zyl said.

Englishman Andy Sullivan remained on top of the leaderboard after the second round of the South African Open at Glendower Golf Club on Friday, but there was a new local favourite challenging him as the tournament reached the halfway mark.

Sullivan posted a solid two-under-par 70 to go to eight-under-par overall, but while fellow overnight leader Jbe’ Kruger plummeted down the leaderboard with an 80, Charl Schwartzel came charging through with a 69 that left him just one stroke behind the 28-year-old from Nuneaton, the birthplace of George Eliot.

But Sullivan looks a genuine contender for the second oldest national open title, bringing an aggressive approach despite the tightness of the parklands course and the punishing tangle of kikuyu rough that lurks just off the fairway.

Things have only been looking up lately for Sullivan: He and his bride greeted the arrival of baby daughter Ruby in 2013, Sullivan has improved his European Tour order of merit position from 98th in 2013 to 33rd last year; and he will quite literally be rising up in spectacular fashion one of these days after winning a trip into space last September for a hole-in-one at the KLM Open.

Schwartzel surged to within a stroke of Sullivan by finishing birdie-eagle-birdie, but is struggling with a badly bruised toe and a swing that is making progress but is not quite where the 2011 Masters champion would like it to be.

“I’m not that far off, but there’s still a lot of holes left and someone can make up a score very quickly as we saw with my round.

“I was just missing fairways by a little bit, or when I finally hit a good shot I would three-putt, so nothing was really going for me. But any time you finish like that, it turns your day into a much better one and nobody was more surprised than me!

“I’m trying to get an old feeling back in my swing and it’s the same with the putter, I’ve spent quite a few hours on the practice green. I’m just trying to remember what I used to do, even going as far back as my junior days, just trying to be more consistent.

“But my toe was worse today. There’s no real pain when I hit the ball, it’s just the walking that is very painful. But I’m not playing in pain otherwise I would withdraw,” Schwartzel said.

Schwartzel is currently South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer at number 31 but is yet to win his national open. While his dream of putting his name on the same trophy as all the South African greats from Bobby Locke to Gary Player and Ernie Els is still very much alive, Kruger will probably have to wait another year after just scraping into the weekend on the cut-mark of two-over, 10 strokes off the pace.

Kruger spoke on the first day of how everyone in the field respects Sir Ernie so much, but the five-time champion joined him on two-over-par and looked in danger of missing the cut after a disastrous run of bogey, triple-bogey, triple-bogey from the eighth hole.

The absence of tournament host Els from the weekend would have cast a pall over the event, but the heir to Player’s throne pulled himself together and consecutive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes brought him to safety before he parred his way in to ensure that he is not totally out of contention on level-par, eight behind the leader.

Sullivan is a jovial, down-to-earth fellow and his approach to the testing Glendower course has been to keep it simple and attack.

He started on the 10th hole and promptly birdied the par-four 11th and 12th holes, but then had the misfortune of being out on the course when a brief squall hit the Edenvale area.

“The first three holes, it was flat calm and perfect for scoring. But then I stepped on to 13 and the wind really got up. Plus it wasn’t so warm so the ball didn’t go as long, so I was happy to get through my first nine holes without a blemish.

“I attacked just as much as in the first round, but the course was a bit tougher today and a couple of poor drives got punished. But I probably played a bit better today. I have nothing to fear, I have a good record in South Africa and I feel that I’m up to the task. I’m just going to go out and enjoy the weekend,” Sullivan said.

While Sullivan mostly used driver off the tee, Schwartzel opted for a mixture of driver, three-wood and two-iron and it worked well for him, particularly on his closing holes.

On the seventh he hit driver a long way, but an overhanging willow tree forced him to hit a low nine-iron for his approach, which finished 12-15 feet short of the hole, but Schwartzel nailed the birdie putt.

On the par-five eighth, a driver and five-iron left him on the front left fringe of the green and he sank a 20-footer for eagle.

Schwartzel went for the two-iron off the tee on the 367-metre ninth hole and a wonderful sand-wedge that spun left-to-right left him with an eight-footer for birdie, which he drained for a thrilling finish to his round.

It will also be a big weekend for JJ Senekal, who fired a 67 to move into a tie for third place on six-under-par with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and fellow South African Colin Nel.

“It’s a great position to be in. There are a few good names up there and it’s good to see myself up there with the best. It feels good, it’s our biggest event and the one you want to do well in. It’s like our fifth major, not that I’ve played in one.

“This is our prestige tournament and with Ernie being involved and all of the history it’s exactly where you want to be. I watched Trevor Immelman win at Erinvale and walked with him. Back then I was trying to catch golf balls and gloves, now I’m the guy that wants to hand them out, so I’m living the dream. It was my dream and always what I wanted to do. Golf was life from a very young age and I’m happy to be here,” Senekal said.

For Els and Kruger, it’s just a case of being happy to be at Glendower for the weekend.

 http://citizen.co.za/304585/andy-sullivan-remains-top-leaderboard/

Charl Schwartzel was the star of the second round at the South African Open on Friday as he closed to within a stroke of leader Andy Sullivan at Glendower Golf Club.

Despite battling a badly bruised toe and still trying to rediscover his perfect swing, Schwartzel was able to make five birdies and an eagle, offsetting four bogeys, as he posted a 69 that took him to seven-under-par for the tournament, in second place behind Sullivan.

The Englishman, the joint leader overnight, went out from the 10^th hole in three-under 33, but would make bogeys at the par-four fifth and seventh holes, before picking up a shot at the par-five eighth to finish with a 70 and eight-under-par overall.

Schwartzel also started on the 10^th and had grafted through his round, playing his first 15 holes in one-over-par. But a spectacular birdie-eagle-birdie finish allowed the South African to make a dramatic surge up the leaderboard.

“I was just missing fairways by a little bit, or when I finally hit a good shot I would three-putt, so nothing was really going for me. But any time you finish like that, it turns your day into a much better one and nobody was more surprised than me!” Schwartzel said after his round.

Schwartzel has not had a top-10 finish on the European Tour since August’s Bridgestone Invitational WGC event and has been battling much-publicised swing problems. But on Friday his biggest wish would have been for carts to be allowed so he wouldn’t have to walk between holes after bashing his toe on some househould furniture in the build-up to the tournament.

“I’m trying to get an old feeling back in my swing and it’s the same with the putter, I’ve spent quite a few hours on the practice green. I’m just trying to remember what I used to do, even going as far back as my junior days, just trying to be more consistent.

“But my toe was worse today. There’s no real pain when I hit the ball, it’s just the walking that is very painful. But I’m not playing in pain otherwise I would withdraw,” Schwartzel said.

While South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer merely had to deal with stabbing pains in his toe, five-time champion and tournament host Ernie Els must have felt like Glendower had kneed him in the groin as he crashed down the leaderboard with a staggering bogey, triple-bogey, triple-bogey sequence from the eighth hole.

But Els has not won 67 professional tournaments and earned the equivalent of nearly a billion rand in prizemoney by being mentally fragile and he fought his way back with successive birdies on 13 and 14, before parring his way in for a 77. The host will nevertheless be around for the weekend and is only eight shots behind Sullivan on level-par for the tournament.

Jbe’ Kruger, who was tied for the lead with Sullivan overnight, had a disastrous day with an 80 and just scraped into the weekend on the cut-mark of two-over.

JJ Senekal was the other golfer to produce a top-class round on Friday, shooting a 67 to climb into a share of third with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and fellow South African Colin Nel on six-under.

Sullivan, a jovial 28-year-old from Nuneaton, once again brought an aggressive approach to the tight parklands course and, apart from a wobble coming in, it paid off.

“The course was a bit tougher today but I’m happy with my round, I actually probably played a bit better today. The rough is brutal but yesterday I got away with it, while today I was punished a couple of times. But I attacked just as much,” Sullivan said.