Bezuidenhout, Donaldson share lead at halfway point at SA Open

Christiaan Bezuidenhout maintained his push for back-to-back victories on the Sunshine Tour and European Tour’s South African Swing, but he still has company at the top of the South African Open leaderboard going into the weekend at the Gary Player Country Club.

Bezuidenhout signed for a second consecutive 67 on Friday to climb to 10 under par at the halfway stage of this tournament. While he managed to break free of the six-way tie for the lead he shared after day one, Welshman Jamie Donaldson went with Bezuidenhout and also came through the second round at 10 under par following a sublime 63.

They are two strokes clear of Dean Burmester and Dylan Frittelli, who posted rounds of 69 and 68 respectively.

But Bezuidenhout has shown no signs of a loss of momentum following his victory in the Alfred Dunhill Championship last week, and seems in perfect control of his game at this point.

“I’m very pleased. I missed a few makeable putts on the par fives and a few short putts which hurt a bit, but no damage was done. I was controlled and solid today, and I’m very pleased to be at -10 at the halfway mark. You have to have good course management around here and I’ve had a good game plan for this week. I’m not going to change anything,” he said.

Donaldson made the biggest move with his round of 63 and is equally excited about the prospect of contending on the weekend on a golf course he enjoys.

“This is a great country and I really enjoy playing this golf course. You’ve got to hit fairways here. If you hit it in the rough it’s so much harder to get the right distance into the greens. I hit a lot of tee shots in play and my iron shots were very close to the flags, and then I was able to capitalise on that with good putts. I must have holed four or five 20-foot putts. So all in all it was a very good day.”

Behind them, Frittelli in particular is also exactly where he planned to be at the start of this tournament.

“I said at the start if I can be within two or three shots going into the final nine holes, I feel l’ll have a chance. I’m within two of the lead so that’s perfect for the weekend.”

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