Nobody was more surprised than Dean van Staden to find himself in the lead midway through the Telkom PGA Championship at the Woodhill Country Club on Friday.
The 39-year-old ERPM golfer fired a seven-under-par 65 on Friday for a 12-under 134 total after the second round of the tournament and lies one stroke ahead of fellow South Africans Jean Hugo, Craig Lile and Warrick Druian.
Another shot back lie defending champion Michiel Bothma and Desvondes Botes, with Thomas Aiken, Mark Murless and all on nine-under and three off the pace.
”I haven’t been playing well. In fact, I think I have made three cuts in my last 10 tournaments, so I am shocked to be the lead,” said Van Staden.
The major problem for him is a pinched nerve in his neck that runs through to the elbow.
”I am taking tablets and the physio has been working on me and so far it is under control.”
The other concern in recent months has been his putting.
”I’ve been putting really badly but this week I have had only 54 putts in two rounds, so that’s pretty good.”
On Friday he assembled a bogey-free round with five birdies on the front nine and another four coming back. But the best play of the round for Van Staden came at the par-three 16th.
”I played it into the bunker on the right and had a terrible lie. I was about eight yards from the lip and with a terrible pin placement I had no shot.”
But he struck it to perfection. The ball trickled out of the bunker and rolled to within eight feet of the hole.
”It was a miraculous up-and-down … the best I’ve played all year,” he said.
He added that when a thunderstorm forced the players off the course at about 1pm, it could not have come at a better time for him.
”I had a putt for a birdie on 15 when it happened and I was beginning to tense up. I had lost my swing a bit and that gave me a bit of time to regroup.”
With an eight-under 64, Hugo produced the best round of the day. The 29-year-old from Stellenbosch began well with a birdie on the first and picked up shots on six and nine to turn three-under. Hugo kept up the momentum with birdies on 10, 11 and 12 and then gained again on 15 and 17.
But Hugo is still looking for the consistency that took him to victory at the Volvo Finnish Open in 2000.
”You try and feel where you are on the golf course the minute you walk on to it and this morning it just felt right.
”But tomorrow I might come out and three putt on the first green and then the day starts out all wrong. If I can have two or three rounds like I had today, then it could be that things are back on track.”
The 34-year-old Druian has been finding his feet of late after a poor start to the season has been in contention for the past three tournaments. His recent consistency is due in the main an adjustment to his swing.
”I worked closely with [American] Scott Dunlap and Tjaart van der Walt in January and that got me back on track. I’m now feeling much more comfortable and I am starting to trust my swing.”
His 66 on Friday was made up of nine birdies and three bogeys.
Both overnight leaders — Rogers Wessels and Thabang Simon — had poor rounds on Friday with Wessels shooting a four-over 76 and Simon a five-over 77.
The cut was made at two-under par with 71 players going through to the third round. — Sapa