Golf:Early Race to Dubai leader Pablo Martin moved to the top of the South African Open leaderboard with a four-under-par 68 in today's second round at Pearl Valley Golf Estates where four out of the five Irishmen in the field made it into the weekend.
Martin's round moved him to 11-under-par for a two-stroke lead over Denmark's Anders Hansen (69) at the halfway point.
"Four-under-par is always a good round," said Martin. "It could have been lower but it could also have been a few higher, so I'm pleased with the score.
“I think you need to take advantage of the par fives on this golf course. It was playing easy this morning this course, I think, it wasn’t playing so difficult.
The greens were a little soft and not as fast as yesterday and not that much wind. I thought somebody would shoot very low.”
The Spaniard won last week’s opening event of the European Tour’s 2010 schedule by claiming the Alfred Dunhill Championship, while world number 46 Hansen is the top-ranked player in the field.
Martin set off from the 10th and he went on to make seven birdies while playing partner Hansen, the 2009 Joburg Open winner, had three birdies on each nine plus a bogey and double bogey.
Martin's fellow Spaniard Alejandro Canizares lay third with his 67 taking him to eight-under-par. Louis Oosthuizen, who missed Wednesday's pro-am through illness, was tied fourth at seven-under after a 69.
There is still a possibility he may withdraw from the tournament if his pregnant wife goes into labour over the weekend.
Overnight leader Martin Erlandsson of Sweden slipped into a tie for sixth after a two-over 74. Shot of the day came from Scotland’s Callum Macaulay, who fired a hole-in-one on the 15th in a round of 69.
Michael Hoey was best placed of the Irish after his second successive 70 left the Belfast pro tied 14th on four-under. He too started at the 10th and enjoyed back-to-back birdies at the 18th and first during the middle of his round.
Damien McGrane was shot further back after a level par round of 72 that contained two birdies and as many bogeys, while Gareth Maybin made up for a poor opening 75 with a 68 to get back to one-under.
The Ballyclare native, who lost in a play-off to Richard Sterne this time 12 months ago, was the model of consistency in the South Africa sun as his card contained four birdies and no dropped shots.
Gary Murphy was also in recovery mode as a 69 was good enough to make up for his opening 75, and at level par, was one shot inside the cut.
Shane Lowry was the only Irish casualty, for despite shooting a flawless 68, the Irish Open champion narrowly missed the cut by one shot.
The South African Open is co-sanctioned by the European Tour and South Africa's Sunshine Tour.
Collated second round scores & totals in the European Tour South African Open, Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
133Pablo Martin (Spa) 65 68
135Anders Hansen (Den) 66 69
136Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 67
137Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 69
138James Kingston (Rsa) 72 66, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 74, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 69, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 65 73
139Callum Macaulay 70 69, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 68, Richard Finch 68 71, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 68
140Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71, Richard McEvoy 71 69, Michael Hoey 70 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 69
141 Damien McGrane 69 72, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 69, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 72 69, Andrew Coltart 74 67, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 74 67, Kenneth Ferrie 71 70, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 73, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70
142Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 69 73, Richie Ramsay 67 75, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69, Alan McLean 69 73, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71
143Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 74 69, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 70, Gareth Maybin 75 68, Rhys Davies 73 70, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 76 67, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 71, John Bickerton 73 70, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 72, JG Claassen (Rsa) 74 69, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 71, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 70 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 72, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 75, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 74
144Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 75, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 70, Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 73, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 72 72, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 71, Simon Khan 73 71, Sam Hutsby 71 73, Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 70, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 72 72, Gary Murphy 75 69, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 70 74, Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 74 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 79 65, James Kamte (Rsa) 70 74
145TC Charamba (Zim) 73 72, Doug McGuigan 70 75, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 69, Robert Rock 71 74, Thabang Simon (Rsa) 75 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74, Ryan Dreyer (Rsa) 73 72, David Hewan (Rsa) 77 68, Richard Bland 73 72, Peter Whiteford 73 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 68, Paul Waring 73 72, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72, James Morrison 72 73, David Drysdale 75 70, Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 72 73
The following players failed to make the cut
146Titch Moore (Rsa) 73 73, Anton Haig (Rsa) 75 71, Phillip Price 72 74, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 73 73, Jake Roos (Rsa) 73 73, Jamie Elson 70 76, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 76 70, Shane Lowry 78 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 76 70
147Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 74 73, Merwe Bennie Van Der (Rsa) 72 75, Mark f Haastrup (Den) 76 71, Keenan Davidse (Rsa) 76 71, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 76 71, Albert Pistorius (Rsa) 76 71
148Alex Haindl (Rsa) 82 66, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 76 72, Robert Coles 73 75, Ryan Cairns (Zim) 79 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 76 72, Gavan Levenson (Rsa) 72 76, Charl Coetzee (Rsa) 76 72, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 74 74, Ross McGowan 77 71
149Andrew Butterfield 77 72, Stuart Clark 72 77, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 77 72, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 77 72, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 78 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 76, Julien Quesne (Fra) 76 73, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 74 75, David Dixon 75 74, Sam Little 74 75, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 75 74, Barry Lane 76 73
150John Parry 76 74, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 75 75, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 78 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 76, Mark Murless (Rsa) 74 76, Irvin Mazibuko (Rsa) 79 71
151Gary Clark 75 76, Gary Boyd 77 74, Neil Cheetham 79 72, Chris Williams (Rsa) 71 80, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 79
152Andrew Tampion (Aus) 82 70, Adrian Ford (Rsa) 75 77, Warren Abery (Rsa) 80 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 75 77, Derick Petersen (Rsa) 81 71, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 74 78, Oliver Fisher 75 77, Desmond Terblanche (Rsa) 73 79, Alan Michell (Rsa) 79 73
153Clinton Whitelaw (Rsa) 77 76, Reggie Adams (Rsa) 77 76, Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 79 74, Eugen Marugi (Rsa) 78 75
154Gary Lockerbie 79 75, Trevor Dodds (Nam) 77 77, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 76 78, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 75 79
156Christian Ries (Rsa) 76 80, Peter Baker 77 79
157Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 82 75, Nic Henning (Rsa) 75 82, Wayne Westner (Rsa) 77 80
158Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 79 79, Heinrich Bruiners (Rsa) 83 75
159Tyrone Mordt (Rsa) 81 78, Leon Knoll (Rsa) 81 78
160Dean Lambert (Rsa) 76 84
