Keenan Davidse kept everything below the radar as much as possible on Thursday in the second round of the Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge as he carded a fine four-under-par 66 to move into a share of the lead of the Sunshine Tour tournament.

On a day on which strong winds made life difficult for all but a few of the players at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club, Davidse drew on his constant mind-set of patience to make six birdies and two bogeys to finish the day on five-under for the tournament, sharing the top of the leaderboard with Jacques Blaauw and Peter Karmis. They were one stroke clear of Keith Horne.

“We started the found on the 10^th at 10 past seven,” said Davidse, “and it was already a two-club wind. The 10^th is into the wind, the 11^th downwind and the 12^th across it. After that, it’s pretty much mostly into the wind, so it was a question of staying patient until the final three holes, and even those are not easy when they play downwind.”

Not that you could tell it from the way he played seven, eight and nine. Having turned in level-par 35 with two birdies and two bogeys on his card. He picked up a shot on the first – his 10^th – and then he closed with a flourish with three consecutive birdies on the par-five seventh, the par-three eighth and the par-four ninth.

In any event, his 66 was not even the best round of the day. Sean Bradley came storming through the field after an opening five-over 75. He couldn’t put a foot wrong in the second round, however, as he raced to a seven-under 63 with nary a dropped shot on his scorecard.

He too started on the 10^th and picked up birdies on 16 and 18 head of the turn, which he made in 33. He made three more gains immediately after the turn on one, two and three, and then rounded things off with two more on seven and eight.

For Davidse, things were perhaps a little less dramatic. “There was nothing much in my game which was startlingly good,” said Davidse. “This whole Covid-19 thing has been very disruptive, to be honest, so I’m just enjoying being able to actually play.

“I’ve been in this position too many times to get my hopes up after a good round, because I know there is still a lot of work to be done. So although I’m happy with my round today, it’s really a question of staying patient so I can deal with whatever the elements throw at me in the final round.

“But it would certainly be nice to be able to finally get a win,” he added. “I’ll just have to keep on keeping it under the wind.”