Gary Player Country Club bit back on Friday as Ockie Strydom was one stroke off the lead at four-under-par and he remained South Africa’s highest-placed player at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Strydom carded a one-over-par 73 in the second round, while Frenchman Julien Guerrier holds a one-shot lead after firing a remarkable 68 in extremely difficult conditions. The in-form Frenchman, who ended his long wait for a maiden DP World Tour title in Andalucía in October, carded eight birdies and four bogeys in a roller-coaster second round as strong winds caused havoc.
It was more than that: a combination of intense heat, firm greens and tricky winds turned the round into a stern test. Even for someone like Strydom, who has played the course more than most in the field in the Sunshine Tour events here over the years, Friday was a grind. “It wasn’t easy out there,” he said. “The wind was all over the place. At a stage it was almost a two-club wind on the back nine. It was a total grind out there.”
It was the back nine which made its mark on Strydom’s scorecard. He had navigated the front nine in one-under after a birdie on the first, and he entered the back nine with a birdie on the easy par-five 10th. On the 13th, he had to play his second shot out of the deep rough backwards. He was still in the rough, and could advance his third only 118 yards, and short of the green. He was still in the rough, and his fourth shot was still short of the green. He got up and down from there, but the seed had been sewn for some more damage.
He birdied the 14th, but then dropped shots on the 15th and 17th. He carved his tee shot right on 15 into the bush, and flew the green on 17 after a perfect tee shot.
In a share of second with Strydom was another Frenchman, Romain Langasque, who signed for a two-under-par 70. Defending champion Max Homa was amongst the leaders and at one stage held the sold lead before dropping four shots over his final three holes with back-to-back double-bogeys on 16 and 17 for a 75. But he is still only two shots off the lead.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout held things together with a level-par 72, and, at two-under, was in a share of eighth, one shot behind Homa. Aldrich Potgieter was impressive for his two-under 70, and was in a share of 12th on one-under.
Robin Willimas soldiered through the tough conditions for his two-over 74, and was on level-par at the halfway stage in a share of 16th.
Brandon Stone and Thriston Lawrence were on two-over in a share of 25th after rounds of 72 and 75 respectively. Dulan Frittelli’s one-under 71 too him to a share of 36th on three-over, while Erik van Rooyen was on four-over after a 73.
Ryan van Velzen had to take two penalty drops on the eighth on his way to a quadruple-bogey there, so his second-round of two-over 74 wasn’t as bad as it could have been. He was on nine-over in 62nd-place
