Clarke stays in touch in Johannesburg

Golf - Joburg Open: Darren Clarke remained firmly in contention on the second day of the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and…

Golf - Joburg Open:Darren Clarke remained firmly in contention on the second day of the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on a rain interrupted second day. On 10 under, Clarke is two behind England's David Lynn.

Simon Thornton moved into contention, a round of 65 propelling him to seven under, while Michael Hoey (five under) could yet have a say in the outcome of the tournament.

Lynn, who leads by one from home favourite Charl Schwartzel, has another chance to shake off his journeyman label over the weekend.

The 36-year-old has not had to return to the European Tour qualifying school since 1999, but has won only once in more than 300 starts and that was seven years ago.

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Schwartzel has to go back only to last Sunday for his last success and did not a drop a stroke today in a 68 interrupted by the same thunderstorm which halted the fourth Test at the nearby Wanderers ground.

Schwartzel matched Lynn’s closing birdie when play resumed, but playing partner Clarke missed from under five feet and so remained 10 under.

That left the 40-year-old Ryder Cup star in a share of third place with England’s Danny Willett and Schwartzel’s compatriots Hendrik Buhrmann and Jbe Kruger.

Surprise first round leader Neil Schietekat, outside the world’s top 1,000, added only a 72 to his scintillating opening 62.

It was a poor day too for England’s Simon Khan and Scot Alastair Forsyth.

Qualifying school winner Khan, the former Wales Open champion, went from eight under to five under with a 74, while Forsyth’s 76 was 12 worse than his first effort and meant he missed the cut.

Defending champion Anders Hansen was on the same mark after finishing with a double bogey six on the West, and others to crash out included former Open champion Paul Lawrie, last season’s Rookie of the Year Chris Wood and ex-Ryder Cup man David Howell.

Latest second round scores & totals
(Irl & Gbr unless stated, Irishin bold, par 71)

Note:30 players yet to complete their round. Play will resume at 7am on Saturday for those 30, and the third round will begin at 9.20am

West Course

132Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 68 64, Danny Willett 65 67

133Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 65, James Kamte (Rsa) 67 66

134Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 64

135Kevin Stone (Rsa) 72 63, Peter Whiteford 66 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 66 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 64, Simon Thornton70 65

136Gary Lockerbie 70 66, Titch Moore (Rsa) 68 68, Warren Abery (Rsa) 69 67, Robert Dinwiddie 70 66, TC Charamba (Zim) 68 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 66

137Alex Haindl (Rsa) 71 66, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 66 71, Alan McLean 71 66, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 67 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67 70, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 66, Barry Lane 65 72

138Christian Ries (Rsa) 68 70, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 68, Andrew Marshall 69 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 67

139Sam Hutsby 70 69, Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 70 69, Theunis Spangenberg (Rsa) 71 68, Phillip Price 72 67, Rhys Davies 73 66, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 72 67

140Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 72 68, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 68, Benn Barham 72 68, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 69 71, Nic Henning (Rsa) 72 68, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 70 70, Gary Murphy73 67, Callum Macaulay 70 70, Richard Finch 72 68, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 67 73, Niall Kearney72 68

141Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 72, Reggie Adams (Rsa) 67 74, Stephen Gallacher 72 69, Mark f Haastrup (Den) 70 71, Paul Lawrie 68 73, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 71 70, Miles Tunnicliff 73 68

142Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 69, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 69 73, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 72 70, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 69 73, James Ruth 74 68, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 71 71, Mark Murless (Rsa) 70 72

143Chris Wood 70 73, David Dixon 69 74, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 74 69, David Hewan (Rsa) 71 72

144Anthony Michael (Rsa) 77 67, Stuart Manley 74 70, Warrick Druian (Rsa) 73 71, Sam Little 74 70

145Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 72 73, Willie Van Der Merwe (Rsa) 77 68, Des Terblanche (Rsa) 72 73, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 73 72, Peter Lawrie74 71

146Gary Clark 73 73, David Howell 73 73, Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa) 75 71

147Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 75 72

149Brett Liddle (Rsa) 73 76, Chris Williams (Rsa) 79 70, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 76 73

150Andrew Georgiou (Rsa) 76 74, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 74 76, Markus Brier (Aut) 77 73

152Dean Lambert (Rsa) 77 75, Ali Tsai (Tpe) 73 79

156Muswalo Nethunzwi (Rsa) 81 75

East Course

130David Lynn 63 67

131Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 63 68

132Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 63 69, Darren Clarke63 69

133Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 66

134Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 67 67, Paul Broadhurst 66 68, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 62 72

135Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 68, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 67 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 69

136Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 68 68, Neil Cheetham 67 69, Carl Suneson (Spa) 66 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 66 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 67 69

137Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 67 70, Ross Wellington (Rsa) 68 69, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 69, Michael Hoey68 69, Simon Khan 63 74, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 67

138Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 68, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 68 70, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 71 67

139Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 71 68, Robert Rock 68 71, David Horsey 68 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 69

140Peter Baker 67 73, Matthew Zions (Aus) 65 75, Doug McGuigan 68 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 73, Kenneth Ferrie 69 71, James Morrison 69 71, Alastair Forsyth 64 76, Phillip Archer 70 70, Matthew Carvell (Rsa) 69 71

141Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 67 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 73 68, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 67 74, Sion Bebb 69 72, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 69 72, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 72, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 72 69, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 70 71, Gary Boyd 68 73, Andre Bossert (Swi) 72 69, David Drysdale 72 69, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 71 70

142Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 72, Clinton Whitelaw (Rsa) 71 71, Jamie McLeary 68 74, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 69 73, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 70, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 71

143Anton Haig (Rsa) 68 75, Jake Roos (Rsa) 68 75, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 72 71, Steven O'Hara 72 71, Oliver Fisher 69 74

144Steve Basson (Rsa) 72 72, Tyrone Mordt (Rsa) 69 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 75, Thabang Simon (Rsa) 70 74, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 76, Mohammed Tayob (Rsa) 73 71

145Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 73 72, Paulo Pinto (Arg) 69 76, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 70 75, Albert Pistorius (Rsa) 72 73, Irvin Mazibuko (Rsa) 70 75

146Daniel Greene (Rsa) 72 74, Paul Waring 69 77, Stuart Anderson (Can) 71 75, Omar Sandys (Rsa) 74 72, Charl Coetzee (Rsa) 72 74

147Roope Kakko (Fin) 69 78, Dale Whitnell 71 76, Darren Holder (Rsa) 74 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 76, Craig Liebenberg (USA) 76 71

148Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 76, Daniel Brunson (USA) 71 77, Scott Drummond 70 78

151Sipho Sithole (Rsa) 76 75

153Adrian Ford (Rsa) 72 81