Christiaan Bezuidenhout battled his game through the opening nine on Friday in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida on the PGA Tour, but he steadied things going home for a two-under-par 70.
That moved him to four-under at halfway and into a share of 11th place behind the leader Corey Conners of Canada, who had a three-under 69 to move to nine-under for the tournament. Conners has a one-stroke edge over Scotland’s Martin Laird, with Viktor Hovland, Lanto Griffin and Rory McIlroy in a share of third at seven-under.
Bezuidenhout started with a pair of bogeys on the first and second holes, but he appeared to have steadied things when he made birdies on three, five and eight. But he dropped again ahead of the turn on the par-four ninth when he was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
It was smoother sailing on his homeward nine as he made birdies on both the par-fives, picking up shots on the 12th and the 16th.
Branden Grace got things back on track after a poor opening round of 74, making a one-under 71 in the second round to move to one-over for the tournament and a share of 53rd. Erik van Rooyen made the cut on the number at two-over after a second-round of two-over 74.
Dylan Frittelli and Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini missed out on the weekend action.
