Branden Grace surges up the leaderboard through the halfway mark of Volvo Golf Champions
South African Branden Grace, winner of last week’s Joburg Open, has now surged to the top of the leaderboard at the latest Volvo Golf Champions through the halfway mark.
Having opened up the event with a convincing five-under, 68, on the sprawling The Links at Fancourt, George, Grace is probably the best of his form at the start of the season and is likely to go all the way over the weekend.
"I'm just really enjoying it out there," he said after pulling in a staggering eight birdies. "It's probably my favourite course in the world and coming back here is a fabulous feeling - especially playing well".
Undoubtedly, his liking and experience over the Fancourt has come into play at the right time, giving him the necessary edge over the rest of the field.
However, he will be facing serious world class players in the remaining two rounds as the event is a strictly invite-only event on the European Tour and boosts of some of the grizzled players on the field.
Grace started off his second round with four birdies on the opening six holes before he stumbled on a bogey at par-four, 7th.
He made the turn level-par for the rest of the front nine and pulled in four more on the back nine, without dropping a shot.
He is now 12-under, 134 on the aggregate, four shots better than the nearest competitor Thomas Aiken.
Aiken, who also pulled in a stellar first round with five-under, 68, capitalised mostly on his opening round to card three-under, 70 and is now trailing the leader by four shots. He is joined by Lee Slattery on the second spot.
Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal also had a blistering round on the second day, carding five-under, 68 to surge up the leaderboard. He is outright fourth for the moment followed by the overnight leader Nicolas Colsaerts.
“I think the last couple of years I've played pretty poorly, so improving that, it was not all that difficult,” said the 45 year old Olazabal.
Local players are likely to surge up the leaderboard in the remaining two-days of play, given their experience of the course and the crowd advantage.
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