Joburg Open winner Branden Grace grabs halfway lead at Volvo Golf Champions: Recap
Young South African Branden Grace is now leading the latest edition of the Volvo Golf Champions through the halfway mark and has done it in a brilliant fashion.
The 23-year-old Pretoria native made exceptional use of his knowhow of the course and surged past the grizzled field, wrestling his way up the leaderboard.
Grace, winner of last week’s Joburg Open in South Africa, is currently making the best use of his familiarity with the home courses and pulled in a gigantic seven-under, 66 to outsmart the overnight leader, Nicolas Colsaerts, on the second day.
His opening round of five-under, 68, where he carded a brilliant eagle alongside five birdies, also played an instrumental role in his lead.
He is now poised at 12-under, 134, four shots clear of the nearest contender, countryman Thomas Aiken.
Grace said, "I'm just really enjoying it out there, it’s probably my favourite course in the world and coming back here is a fabulous feeling - especially playing well".
Aiken, who carded an opening round of five-under, 68, pulled in a humble three-under, 70 on the second day, still better than the rest of the field, to settle for a joint second, alongside Englishman Lee Slattery.
Slattery, who barely avoided the Qualifying School last year with a victory at Bankia Madrid Masters in October, pulled in a spectacular round of eight-under, 65 on the second day to surge up the leaderboard.
His round included ten birdies and two bogeys on the 18-hole stretch.
The 33-year-old Englishman said, "Winning certainly gives you belief. That's probably my best round out there, one I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. Because of the team prize I was willing Retief's putts in as well. God knows what the amateur felt like, but he handled it well”.
Overnight leader, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts fell for a disappointing round of three-over, 76, levelling his record-breaking opening round of nine-under, 64.
Colsaerts, who has won just one title in his 200 starts on the European Tour, will now need a miracle to reclaim his opening lead over the weekend.
Goosen made the headlines earlier in the day, when he opened his second round with two straight birdies, soaring on the leaderboard.
He carded two more before making the turn and while enroute to the top of the leaderboard, he fell for two disastrous bogeys on the 14th and 15th to fall back, finishing for a joint fifth.
Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal was another brilliant performer on the second day, carding a round of five-under, 68 to settle for an outright fourth.
South African Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the 2010 Open, carded a lacklustre round of two-under, 71 to settle for joint fifth.
He opened up with a bogey on the first hole of the front nine and played defensively for the rest of the day, pulling in just three birdies.
Open winner Darren Clarke has also made a considerable recovery from his sloppy start of one-over, 74 and pulled in an impressive five-under, 68 on the second day.
The Northern Irishman still has a huge ground to cover before he would actually put himself in contention for the title on Sunday.
He is resting on joint 15th with big guns like Charl Schwartzel, Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn, Ernie Els and young prodigy Tom Lewis.
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