Alfred Dunhill Championship; Anthony not ready to loosen grip on T1
Anthony Michael smashed a three-under-par 69 to retain the lead in the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
Michael teed off late in the afternoon after half of the field had completed the 18-hole session at the Leopard Creek Golf Club. The rookie chose to tee off from the front and birdied six holes against three bogeys. Despite the loss, the South African held onto the lead courtesy of his first round performance.
He was chased by a trio, which included Dawie Van der Walt, Robert Rock, and Alex Haindl. The group composed an aggregate score of seven-under-par, but the best performance came from Haindl. The 27-year-old teed off from back nine, and eagled the par-five 15th along with the par-five second. To jump into top spot, the rookie smashed a six-under-par 66, with the help of two birdies.
Despite composing such a fine scorecard, Haindl was not happy with his game. While expressing his feelings he said, "I hit nice hybrids in for my eagles - on the front edge on 15 where I sank quite a nice putt, and I hit it to about seven feet on two. I three-putted once, and I missed quite a few six-footers. The greens are quite difficult - there is quite a bit of grain in them. But the rest of my game's been good.”
The South African added that “It has been a much better year for me. All the work I've been doing with my coach John Dixon's starting to come through."
Norway’s Marius Thorp was just a stroke behind. Thorp composed a score of six-under-par 71, after birdying five holes and dropping putts at the third, 15th, and 17th. He was followed by a group of five players which included Pablo Martin (71), Keith Horne (71), Thorbjorn Olesen (68), Oskar Henningsson (70), Scott Jamieson (68), and Neil Cheetham (68).
The Friday round produced considerably better scoring. Initially, the players were facing trouble in tackling the bunkered greens and lakes of the Leopard Creek course. However by the start of second half, the bogey count reduced considerably. That allowed the chasing pack to get close to Anthony Michael, but the rookie held on to lead.
Michael told reporter after the second round, "I went out there today just to shoot under 70. I said that if I can shoot three rounds under 70 that will be really good. I got off to a pretty good start and that took some of the pressure off and from there I kicked on. I felt comfortable out there and there was a sense of belonging for me. So all in all, I'm quite happy."
However veteran Louis Oosthuizen continued his poor run at the tournament, as he missed the cut for the fifth time at the Mpumalanga course, after carding a 71 on the second day of the tournament. The South African improved his score, but the early 76 did the major damage.
Meanwhile compatriots Charl Schwartzel and Richard Sterne successfully made the cut for the next round. Charl drafted 70, whereas, Richard finished at par.
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