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Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Getty Images)

Superb Bezuidenhout holds on in Fancourt

Cape Town - Christiaan Bezuidenhout backed up his sublime opening round of 61 at this year’s Dimension Data Pro-Am with an even more impressive score, a six-under-par 67 on The Links, to total 17-under after 36 holes and keep his spot at the top of the leaderboard on day two at Fancourt Golf Estate.

He is joined by Spaniard, Santiago Tarrio Ben at the top after round two.  Bezuidenhout’s start on day two was similar to how he began the first round. He made two birdies in his first three holes to get started on the daunting Links layout before making further gains on the fifth. Bogeys on the seventh and ninth holes followed, threatening to derail his progress in the tournament.

His recovery from those, however, was swift and assured, with back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th holes. An important par-save on the 12th was followed by a trio of birdies one after the other to get his round back on track and to tie the lead with Tarrio Ben who was already in the clubhouse.

“If anyone said I’d shoot six-under-par the Links today, I would’ve taken it,” said Bezuidenhout after yet another solid performance. “I made 11 birdies yesterday and I knew it was always going to be difficult to follow that up with a good score, so I’m happy with how things went out there today. The Links is a tough test and you have to drive it well here, and then it comes down to the putting. The putting wasn’t as good as yesterday’s but, as I said, it was always going to be difficult to do it here.”

Tarrio Ben was just as solid on Friday on the Outeniqua course, making seven birdies, an eagle and a bogey en route to a share of the lead with Bezuidenhout.

Richard Sterne lies third after a spectacular seven-under 66 on The Links which took his total for the week to 13-under and leaves him four shots off the pace as we head into the weekend. Stephen Ferreira who played on Outeniqua as well, also gave a good account of himself on Friday, firing in a 68 which catapulted him to fourth on the leaderboard on 12-under-par.

Tying fifth on a score of 11-under-par is the trio of Dean Burmester who shot a 68 on The Links, George Coetzee who shot a 69 on the same layout and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier who carded a 68 on the Outeniqua track.

- Sunshine Tour

Scores:

127 - Santiago Tarrio Ben 63 64, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 61 67

132 - Richard Sterne 66 66

132 - Stephen Ferreira 64 68

133 - Daniel Hillier 65 68, Dean Burmester 66 68, George Coetzee 65 69

135 - Martin Ovesen 67 68, Clement Sordet 66 68, Jake Roos 67 68, JC Ritchie 65 70, Darren Fichardt 66 69

135 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 65, Marcel Siem 65 71, Ernie Els 64 72, Emilio Cuartero Blanco 67 68, Jaco Ahlers 70 66, Matt Ford 68 67, Ugo Coussaud 69 66

136 - Alan McLean 71 65, Louis de Jager 67 70, Brandon Stone 69 68, Lorenzo Scalise 68 69

137 - Alex Haindl 66 71, Tom Gandy 68 70, Jbe' Kruger 69 69, Haydn Porteous 65 73, Thriston Lawrence 69 69, Marcel Schneider 73 65, Bernd Ritthammer 70 67, Craig Howie 69 69

139 - Jacques Blaauw 69 70, Robin Petersson 71 68, Matthew Baldwin 71 68, Garth Mulroy 69 70, Jake Redman 70 69, Jean Hugo 65 74, Jacques Kruyswijk 69 69, Henric Sturehed 70 69, MJ Viljoen 70 69, Ockie Strydom 69 70, Daniel van Tonder 69 69

140 - Anton Karlsson 70 70, Raphael de Sousa 73 67, Peter Karmis 72 68, Chase Hanna 75 65, Martin Rohwer 72 67, Thomas Linard 74 65, Fredrik From 74 66, Jaco Prinsloo 73 67, Robin Dawson 73 67, Frederic Lacroix 70 69, Hennie du Plessis 67 73, David Boote 71 68, Estiaan Conradie 71 68, Kristoffer Reitan 72 68, Jack Harrison 73 66, Adilson Da Silva 68 72, Luke Jerling 67 73

141 - Daniel Gavins 68 73, Ruan Conradie 71 69, Daan Huizing 72 69, Vaughn Groenewald 70 71, Damien Perrier 69 72, Eirik Tage Johansen 71 70, Jayden Schaper 71 70, Alexander Knappe 69 71, Deyen Lawson 69 71, Jordan Wrisdale 73 68, Garrick Higgo 67 74, Rhys Enoch 69 71, Harry Ellis 71 70, Hurly Long 70 71, Martin Simonsen 71 69, Riekus Nortje 71 69, Hennie Otto 69 72

142 - Niall Kearney 71 71, Scott Fernandez 76 66, Jaco Van Zyl 74 68, Richard Mansell 72 69, Bryce Easton 69 72, Oscar Lengden 73 69, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 70, James Hart du Preez 73 68, Tyrone Ferreira 68 74, Pep Angles 70 72

143 - Martin Wiegele 73 70, Pedro Oriol 74 69, Ulrich van den Berg 72 71, Louis Albertse 72 71, Ewen Ferguson 68 74, Philip Eriksson 72 71, Ben Stow 69 74, Kevin Stone 75 68, Laurie Canter 73 69, Lauri Ruuska 72 70

144 - Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 72 72, Nathan Kimsey 74 69, Deon Germishuys 65 79, Aron Zemmer 72 72, Todd Clements 70 74, Mitch Waite 75 69, Tyrone Ryan 74 69, Merrick Bremner 71 73, Andre Nel 75 68, Roope Kakko 72 72, Jacob Glennemo 73 71, Anthony Michael 74 69, Ross Mcgowan 72 71, Minkyu Kim 77 66, Max Schmitt 75 69, Daniel Greene 72 71, Madalitso Muthiya 71 73, Simon Wakefield 71 73, Heinrich Bruiners 72 72

144 - Chris Cannon 74 70, Keith Horne 72 73, Ruan de Smidt 72 73, Mathieu Fenasse 75 69, Gudmundur Kristjansson 74 70, Stuart Manley 72 73, Steve Surry 74 70, Rourke van der Spuy 70 75, Nicolai Hojgaard 77 67, Daniel Young 76 69, David Borda 72 73, Moritz Lampert 70 75, Christopher Mivis 71 74, Robbie Van West 73 72

146 - Felix Mory 72 74, Teaghan Gauche 71 75, Christiaan Basson 73 72, Euan Walker 73 73, Matias Calderon 78 68, JJ Senekal 75 71

146 - Gavin Moynihan 74 72, Ryan Evans 75 71, David McIntyre 71 75, Ryan Cairns 73 73, Jens Fahrbring 75 72, Toby Tree 76 71, Bradley Neil 72 74, Keenan Davidse 69 78, Oliver Lindell 71 75, Lyle Rowe 73 73, Dale Whitnell 75 71, Gary Stal 73 73, Dylan Naidoo 75 71

147 - Toto Thimba Jnr 73 74, Chris Swanepoel 74 73, Wilco Nienaber 75 73, Liam Johnston 72 76, Neil Schietekat 76 72, Steven Tiley 77 71

149 - Franklin Manchest 75 74, Matthew Rushton 77 72, Marc Cayeux 71 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 76, Jonas Kolbing 78 71, Stanislav Matus 76 73, CJ du Plessis 77 71, Jack Floydd 75 74, Ben Evans 74 75, Callum Mowat 75 74

150 - Jason Diab 78 72, Michael Palmer 78 72, Andre De Decker 76 73, Mark Williams 77 73

151 - Doug McGuigan 76 75

152 - Justin Walters 72 80, David Dixon 76 76, James Kamte 77 74, Ricardo Gouveia 75 76

153 - Oliver Bekker 80 73, Keelan Africa 80 73, Juran Dreyer 75 78

154 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 80 74

155 - Gerrit Foster 78 77

156 - Joel Stalter 79 77

158 - Clancy Waugh 74 84