A strong south-easterly wind rattled the leaderboard in the second round of the South African Airways Open at Erinvale on Friday, and the fallout was a championship thrown wide open with three players tied for the lead.
South Africans Nico van Rensburg and Craig Lile, and Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth made it into the clubhouse at seven under par for the championship earlier in the day and then watched as the field came back to them in the much tougher afternoon conditions.
Australian Brett Rumford, the overnight leader, was one of the victims. Rumford birdied the second to surge to nine under par, but a back nine of three bogeys from the 11th gave him a 74, which placed him one off the pace at the end of the day along with Welshman Stephen Dodd.
”Today was brutal. This course didn’t just have teeth today, it had fangs,” Rumford said.
Defending champion Trevor Immelman, although describing his wedge play as ”atrocious”, would certainly have appreciated being let back into a tournament he may have felt was slipping away from him. He signed for a 69, despite bogeys at the ninth and 18th, to be three off the pace.
But there were a few angry words from Colin Montgomerie as he stumbled to a 78, featuring a quadruple bogey eight on the tough 17th arising from a lost ball, and a total of two over. Responding to questions about the conditions being tougher, Montgomerie said, ”Yes, slightly!”
And at the bottom of the field, both Bradford Vaughan and England’s Lewis Atkinson signed for a 10 on the par five 16th.
But there were no such horrors for the leading trio.
Lile, a prominent Western Province amateur before taking his game to the American College circuit and then the Nationwide Tour, added a 68 highlighted by a superb birdie at the 17th where he hit a seven iron to four feet.
Lile definitely exceeded the expectations he had coming into this tournament.
”I was just hoping to make the cut. Obviously I’ve done that now,” he said. ”The birdie on 17 was a real bonus. But that’s what you need in this tournament. You can control a top 10 finish but you can’t control winning. You need a few lucky breaks every now and then for that to happen.”
Van Rensburg, who signed for a 70, also had luck on his side on Friday. His birdie at the par five third came after his drive bounced off the cart path and back into play.
”A couple of years ago in this event in Durban I was about fifth on the leaderboard and I drove near a bush and somebody must have picked up the ball because we never found it. Maybe the luck is with me this time,” said the Pretoria professional, who has been dogged by a wrist injury over the past year after he broke a bone while playing in Germany.
”It’s a lot better now and I am hitting the ball with no pain, which is great. Hopefully I can start getting the results now as well.”
Forsyth was solid from tee to green, although he let a few birdie chances slip away.
”The putting is a bit rusty having not really putted for a couple of months. It’s something that will take a little time,” he said.
The halfway cut was made on three over par. Among the casualties were three former SA Open champions in Mark McNulty (four over), David Frost (five over) and Tony Johnstone (11 over). — Sapa