Wallie Coetsee took a one-stroke Joburg Open halfway lead on Friday as overnight pacesetter Nic Henning imploded and new Europe Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke failed to make the cut.
Camera-shy Coetsee fired 65 in the second round on the west course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club for a 131 two-round total in the two-course tournament.
However, Henning, who fired a 62 to match the course record on Thursday, plummeted to a bogey-riddled 78 on the tougher east course and missed the cut.
Clarke fired a second successive 72 for a two-round total of 144 — five shots more than the cut-off mark.
The Northern Irishman was named this month to skipper Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup match against the US at Hazeltine in Minnesota.
South Africans Garth Mulroy (68) and Tjaart van der Walt (69) share second place with Englishman Simon Dyson (67) in the European Tour-Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned championship.
Swede Niclas Fasth (67) and Englishman Anthony Wall (66) are a stroke further back on 133 ahead of the final two rounds over the challenging 6,345m east course. Another two Swedes, Kristoffer Broberg (67) and Alex Noren (63), Welshman Stuart Manley (67) and South African Thomas Aiken (67) are on 134, three strokes adrift of Coetsee.
The halfway pacesetter picked up an eagle, five birdies and a bogey as he enjoyed the anonymity of missing the televised coverage.
“There were no cameras on me out there so it was quite easy,” said 42-year-old Coetsee, who ended a 17-year title drought by winning a Sunshine event in Zambia last season.
“Apart from a stupid bogey on the seventh, I enjoyed the round,” Coetsee said.
“There were some difficult pins out there, so I aimed for the middle of the greens. I did not attack too much and kept calm,” he said.
“This is a marathon — not a race. You cannot run too fast. Leading means a lot to me, but tomorrow [Saturday] we start from level par again,” Coetsee said.
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