Seasoned South African trio James Kingston, Hennie Otto and newcomer Jakobus Roos shared the halfway lead on Friday on 11-under-par 132 in the inaugural Jo’burg Open.
The event is being played at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington club with its two fine courses, the par-72 West and the tougher and longer par-71 East.
A field of 200 players — half from the European Tour and half from the Sunshine Tour — contested the first two rounds, with each golfer having one round on each.
The 36-hole cut for the top 70 players and ties following Friday’s round is three-under-par 140, with 83 players making it through to the weekend.
The three leaders all played the easier West course on Friday with Otto shooting 67, Kingston 66 and accountant-turned-pro-golfer Roos a day’s best 65.
Australia’s Terry Pilkadaris, who has enjoyed a good deal of success on the Asian Tour with wins in the Shanghai Open, Sanyo Open and Brunei Open, is making his debut on South African soil and it has gone well so far for him with rounds of 67 on the East and 66 on the West for a 133 aggregate.
He is lying fourth all on his own, a stroke ahead of two other South Africans in Dean Lambert (66) and Louis Oosthuizen (69), and Argentina’s Ariel Canete (68).
”I was a little frustrated because the West is where you’re supposed to pick up birdies and I was level par after eight holes,” said the 41-year-old Kingston. ”But I eagled the par-five ninth, then had another run of seven pars before finishing birdie-eagle. It’s amazing what a difference a couple of eagles can make to your round.”
Kingston has won five times on the Asian Tour and eight times on South Africa’s Sunshine Tour, but after 12 years on the European Tour a victory still eludes him. He has twice finished second, in the 2003 Qatar Masters and the 2005 Hong Kong Open. Clearly, he’d love to put that record straight this weekend with a win.
This €1-million tournament is the third successive European Tour event to be held in South Africa in the southern-hemisphere summer.
Otto has lost his playing privileges for the European Tour while Roos, who does not have a card for any of the major tours, will be chasing victory here knowing that a win brings with it exemption on the European Tour until the end of 2009. ”The incentive is huge,” said Otto.
Like Kingston, Roos also eagled the West course’s 18th hole and the same applied to Argentina’s Ariel Canete, who is lying joint fifth on 134 alongside South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Dean Lambert.
Edoardo Molinaro of Italy, who opened on the East with a fabulous 64 on Thursday, held the tournament lead after eight holes of his second round on Friday on 10-under-par.
But he came unstuck on the West course’s par-five ninth hole where he thinned his third shot from a greenside bunker over the putting surface and a picket fence into a flower bed in the players’ refreshment enclosure.
That cost him a triple-bogey eight as he tumbled down the leader board. But he finished his round with a birdie and an eagle for a 71 to be on 135 and just three off the pace.
Pre-tournament favourite Charl Schwartzel of South Africa looked like missing the cut at one stage before completing the inward loop on the East course in just 30 strokes for a 68 to be with Eyraud on 137. — Sapa-AFP