South Africans in total command in Maybank Malaysian Open through halfway mark: Live Leaderboard Part-1
Second round of the star-studded Maybank Malaysian open has already made the turn and the trailblazing South Africans seem to be in total command of the proceedings through the halfway mark.
Two of the shining stars from the African country Hennie Otto and Jbe Kruger have already clinched the early lead, after the duo finished for eight-under, 64 and seven-under, 65 respectively.
Kruger and Otto are now settled for the early lead in the event, poised at an aggregate score of nine-under, 135 after wrestling the scenic Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club.
Regardless of their impressive run on the second day, the duo’s lead is under a serious threat from the 2010 Open Champion, countryman Louis Oosthuizen, who is still working towards the closing holes of the 36-hole stretch.
Kruger hailed the success of South African golfers in the recent years and said:
“I think all of us (South Africans) are coming into this tournament with a little bit of form coming back. I spoke to Charl and he said he was struggling in the last couple of weeks”.
Kruger, who fell for surprise double-bogeys at the closing holes on the opening day, was barely deterred by the early loss and shot right back into contention on the second day of the event.
Starting off from front nine, Kruger carded his first birdie on the second hole of the day and dropped a shot at par-five, 3rd-his only bogey of the day.
He carded two consecutive birdies on fourth and fifth and another at seventh before making the turn. His run on the back nine was equally impressive where he pulled in four birdies without dropping a shot.
Meanwhile, Otto also had a blistering day at the sprawling course where he landed eight birdies without dropping a single shot through the 18-hole stretch.
His second round was totally in contrast to his performance on the first day where he fell for a humble one-under, 71.
He said, “I played the course blind yesterday because I was first reserve for the pro-am and was expecting to get into that and use it as my practice round but it didn’t happen. I walked the course on Wednesday so had an idea but it is obviously a lot different when you come to play it”.
To be continued...
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