Ruan Korb carded a two-under-par 70 on Thursday in the second round of the Sunshine Tour’s Blue Label Challenge at a hot and windy Gary Player Country Club to take the halfway lead in the tournament being scored with the modified Stableford system.

Korb’s four birdies and two bogeys meant that he scored six points – there are five points for an eagle, two for a birdie, none for a par, and one point is lost for a bogey – to take him to 20 after his fine 14-pointer for his first-round 66. That gave him a one-point edge over first-round leader Ockie Strydom, who scored four points for his one-over 73 which included losing three points for a double-bogey.

“The wind made it very difficult,” said Korb. “It wasn’t so much having to keep it low into the wind which would have to be the case if it were coming from one direction. Rather, it was difficult to know which club to use because the wind was swirling all over the place. And it was 38 degrees centigrade out there, so it was pretty tiring.”

For the left-handed Korb, who won his maiden Sunshine Tour title in November last year in Pretoria, it was a question of surviving as the Sunshine Tour plays its first 72-hole event for a while after a winter diet of 54-hole tournaments. “You have to be aware that this is physically more demanding than we’ve been used to, and then make sure that you don’t get so tired that you make bad decisions,” he said.

“I like the format, because I’m an aggressive player,” he added. “I like the idea of going for birdies and getting rewarded more for those than you get penalised for getting a bogey.”

Behind Korb and Strydom, on 17 points in third place, was Keagan Thomas, who carded a three-under 69 for nine points in round two. In a share of fourth on 16 points were Jaco Ahlers, Rhys Enoch of Wales and Lyle Rowe. Rowe had a three-under 69 for 10 points in his second round, and eagle on the 11^th giving him a boost.

The best round of the day belonged to Nikhil Rama, who had a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 for 14 points. After scoring minus-eight in his first round, he’s at six points at the halfway stage of the tournament in a share of 25^th.