By hook or crook, lead is all that matters to Garcia

Sergio Garcia is in the lead and that’s all that matters for the two-time champion after an up-and-down second round for the Spaniard at the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City on Friday.

Garcia was already in first place, leading by four strokes, when he teed off on Friday, and while he started superbly with birdies on the first two holes, and picked up further strokes on the par-four sixth and the par-five ninth and 14^th holes, he also had four bogeys in his round, three of them due to three-putts.

The 2017 Masters champion missed a short putt for par on the fifth, three-putted the 13^th for bogey and then dropped another shot on the 18^th hole as his second putt horseshoed straight back at him.

So Garcia, who won at Sun City in 2001 and 2003, finished with a one-under-par 71, inching him to nine-under-par overall, with Louis Oosthuizen closing in, a brilliant 67 on Friday leaving South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer (39^th) just one shot behind.

“Shooting 68 or 69 today would have been great, but unfortunately that didn’t work out, but you have to be extremely precise on this course. There are still two days to go and I am leading, so I am still in a great spot. I would certainly have taken that on Thursday morning.

“I felt I played nicely today but I would love a few of those putts to go in tomorrow. It’s not ideal to see three-putts, but some of the pins were almost impossible to get to and when you leave yourself 20 or 25 feet putting over hills then it’s gonna happen sometimes,” a phlegmatic Garcia said after his round on Friday.

In addition to Oosthuizen, Dylan Frittelli is also leading the South African charge as he also shot a 67 on Friday to leap to four-under-par overall, five shots behind Garcia.

He also birdied the first two holes and ended with a tally of seven birdies, offset by bogeys on two of the four par-threes.

“I just felt more comfortable on the golf course today. Yesterday the wind felt like it was switching on a lot of holes, and you’re looking up in the sky trying to figure it out. It was a little bit easier today the wind kind of settled down and was a little more consistent. My tee shots were better and my putting was a lot better today.

“There are a lot of birdies left out there, so being in the top-15 by the end of the day makes me really happy. It’s going to take two really low ones to get into contention, but hopefully I keep climbing the leaderboard and making birdies. That’s the goal,” Frittelli said.

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