South Africa’s Danie van Tonder soared to the top of the leaderboard on the back of three eagles to hold a narrow lead at the halfway stage of the Kenya Savannah Classic.
Van Tonder eagled the sixth, 11th and 12th at Karen Country Club as he added a second round of 64 to his opening 65 to finish 13 under par, a shot ahead of in-form compatriot Justin Harding and Scotland's David Drysdale.
The 30-year-old also carded three birdies and was two shots clear of the field until dropping his second shot of the day on the 18th.
“It’s a bit different this week,” Van Tonder said. “Last week I missed the cut by one. I was struggling with my swing a bit, trying to play aggressive but it didn’t really work the first day. On the second I got it back.
“But this week I’ve found something again. I got some confidence out there so I am able to hit the driver on most tee boxes and be aggressive going into the pins.”
Harding won the Magical Kenya Open on the same course on Sunday and carried on where he left off with a second round of 66 containing seven birdies and two bogeys.
“I think the golf course just suits me well,” Harding said. “I enjoy it out there, I drove it really well today, I put it in play and to be fair I probably just didn’t hit it close enough to the hole.
“I think I’ve got to just handle my emotions correctly. Today I was a little grumpier than I’ve been for the last five days. There is a lot going on inside with me I suppose but I try to be as calm as I can.”
Drysdale missed the cut last week but benefited from a change of equipment as he carded a second consecutive 65 in pursuit of a first European Tour title in his 519th event.
“I had to change driver head last week to loft up and launch it a little higher in the altitude here and I just hit too many left,” Drysdale said.
“I missed a lot of fairways and stymied myself behind a few trees so went back to my old head and I’ve driven it fantastically so far.
“You just go out and play but it’s hard not to think about it [not winning]. It’s a record I don’t want to have. That’s what I’m striving for, to win a tournament or win a few but obviously to get the first one. We’ll see what happens. It’s on my mind, not constantly, but it’s something that’s there.”
Bangor's Jonathan Caldwell sits four shots off the lead on nine under after a three-under 68 that included an eagle three on the 12th, while Cormac Sharvin slipped back to five under after a one-over 72 that included three birdies and four bogeys. Gavin Moynihan missed the cut after adding a 76 to his opening 72 to finish on six over.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateur
129 Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 65 64
130 David Drysdale 65 65, Justin Harding (Rsa) 64 66
131 Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 64, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 66 65, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 65 66
132 Joost Luiten (Ned) 64 68, Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 65, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 62, Marcus Armitage 65 67, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 66 66
133 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 66, Jonathan Caldwell 65 68
134 Sam Horsfield 66 68, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 69 65, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 64, Clement Sordet (Fra) 64 70, Scott Vincent (Zim) 67 67, Hurly Long (Ger) 69 65, Lee Slattery 66 68, Rhys Enoch 67 67, David Wakhu (Ken) 66 68, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 66 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 70 64
135 Steven Brown 68 67, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 68 67, James Morrison 70 65, Calum Hill 67 68, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 69, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 64 71, Liam Johnston 66 69, Matthiam Keyser (Rsa) 65 70, Ashley Chesters 67 68
136 Ross McGowan 65 71, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 66 70, Julian Suri (USA) 66 70, Jack Senior 67 69, Ricardo Santos (Por) 68 68, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 67 69, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 68, Wil Besseling (Ned) 67 69, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 71 65, Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 70 66, Ben Evans 68 68, Emilio Cuartero (Esp) 66 70, Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 67 69, Jayden Schaper (Rsa) 69 67, Scott Hend (Aus) 66 70
137 Richie Ramsay 71 66, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 66 71, David Howell 70 67, Cormac Sharvin 65 72, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 70 67, Dale Whitnell 70 67, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 68, Garrick Porteous 69 68, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 67, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 69 68
138 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 69 69, David Coupland 70 68, Toby Tree 67 71, Daan Huizing (Ned) 68 70, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 70 68, Martin Leth Simonsen (Den) 70 68, Daniel Young 73 65, Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 72 66, Svn-Hwan Kim (Kor) 68 70, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 70, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 64, Aaron Rai 70 68, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 68 70
Missed Cut
139 Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 70, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 71 68, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 67 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 71 68, Craig Howie 68 71, John Catlin (USA) 69 70, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 69 70, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 70 69
140 Matthew Southgate 73 67, Chris Paisley 71 69, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 69 71, Robin Roussel (Fra) 70 70, Oliver Farr 71 69, Johannes Veerman (USA) 70 70, Ewen Ferguson 70 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 72 68, J. C. Ritchie (Rsa) 70 70, David Law 71 69, Tae-Hee Lee (Kor) 68 72, Benjamin Poke (Den) 70 70
141 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 68 73, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 72 69, Shiv Chawrasia (Ind) 75 66, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 73 68, Richard Mansell 70 71
142 Richard McEvoy 71 71, Grant Forrest 72 70, Connor Syme 71 71, Marcel Schneider (Ger) 67 75, Adel Balala (Ken) 73 69, Samuel Chege (Ken) 71 71, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 69 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 72, Pep Angles (Esp) 71 71, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 69, Greg Snow (Ken) 71 71
143 Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 72 71, Jordan Smith 71 72, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 73 70, Matt Ford 74 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 69, Simon Ngige Mburu (Ken) 77 66
145 Oliver Wilson 71 74, Gavin Green (Mal) 74 71, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 71 74, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 75, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 76 69, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 75 70, Dismas Indiza Anyonyi (Ken) 72 73, Robson Chinoi (Zim) 75 70, Justus Madoya (Ken) 72 73
146 Damien Perrier (Fra) 73 73, Richard Bland 74 72, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 73 73, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 76 70, Mohit Mediratta (Ken) 72 74, Andrew Odoh (Ngr) 74 72, Kyong-Jun Moon (Kor) 72 74
147 Max Schmitt (Ger) 77 70, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 73 74, Tyler Koivisto (USA) 72 75, Erick Obura (Ken) 76 71, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 75 72
148 Gavin Moynihan 72 76
149 Joel Stalter (Fra) 72 77, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 76 73, CJ Wangai (Ken) 73 76, Isaac Makokha (Ken) 73 76
150 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 72 78, Matthew Baldwin 80 70
151 Riz Charania (Ken) 71 80, Jay Sandhu (Ken) 72 79
152 Edwin Asuza (Ken) 76 76
153 Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 74 79, Oliver Fisher 75 78, Phillip Kasozi (Uga) 76 77
155 Mathew Omondi (Ken) 78 77, Michael Karanga (Ken) 75 80
156 Deo Akope (Uga) 82 74
157 Njoroge Kibugu (Ken) 78 79
158 Taimur Malik (Ken) 82 76
