From rock-solid to raucous: Vorster catapults to the top 0
HARARE – Martin Vorster was on a rock-solid two-under-par for his round after his first seven holes on Friday, but a raucous run around the turn in which he picked up four birdies and then an eagle helped catapult him to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the FBC Zim Open at Royal Harare Golf Club.
The Mossel Bay representative began his round on the 10th hole and made another eagle on the par-five sixth hole before parring his way in for a phenomenal 62, his best ever round in his 52nd Sunshine Tour event. That lifted Vorster to 12-under-par at the halfway mark of the R2.5 million event, one stroke ahead of Darren Fichardt (66) and Michael Hollick (67).
Vorster responded in style to a grungy first round that included four bogeys to offset six birdies. On Friday he made birdies at the 10th, 12th and 14th holes, before his only dropped shot, a four at the par-three 15th. But the 22-year-old then made sweet music with four straight birdies at 17, 18, one and two, before his eagle at the 475m par-three third.
Veteran Fichardt sounded a warning in the morning about his challenge, firing a six-under 66 that included eight birdies, being joined on 11-under-par by Hollick, who posted a 67 that included a good little run of his own when he birdied four successive holes from the fifth to the eighth.
Anthony Michael also shot a 67 to lie fourth on 10-under-par, while first-round leader Jaco Ahlers slipped back a bit with a 71 that left him on eight-under.
Kieran Vincent was the leading Zimbabwean as his 67 lifted him to six-under-par, alongside South Africans JC Ritchie (69) and Combrinck Smit (70) in the tie for sixth.