Daniel van Tonder retained a two-stroke advantage in the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood Estate, posting a six under par round of 66 on day two before play was suspended due to darkness.
The South African, who is going in search of back-to-back HotelPlanner Tour wins after triumphing in the SDC Open last week, mixed seven birdies with a solitary bogey on Friday to reach 16 under par for the week.
Van Tonder leads by two from countryman Martin Vorster after the 23-year-old recorded a second-successive round of 65 to move into solo second on 14 under par.
Van Tonder is excited for the weekend and says he’ll continue his aggressive approach as he looks to make his two-shot advantage pay.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “I missed a couple of putts but other than that, I’m very happy.
“I’ll just be trying to make as many birdies as I can and put a number out there for people to try to beat.
“The course is definitely there to be attacked. We’ll see what happens at the weekend with the wind and the pin positions. Regardless of that, my game plan will be to keep my head down and attack.”
Van Tonder, having started the day two shots clear, made three birdies in a row from the fifth hole to extend his lead.
The 28-year-old’s first dropped shot of the week came at the eighth, but he fired back with four birdies in a five-hole stretch from the tenth to make sure of a two-shot advantage at the halfway stage.
Van Tonder has been accustomed to winning this season having come out on top on three separate occasions on the Sunshine Tour, and is now relishing the prospect of leading from the front over the weekend.
“There’s 36 holes left and I want to keep getting after this golf course,” he added. “I don’t feel like the hunted, I still feel like the hunter.
“I didn’t really think about yesterday’s round and the position I was in. Today was a new day and it felt good.
“Four birdies in five holes helped. On the front nine I left a few out there. I think I probably missed the chance to gain about five shots on the front nine. It feels normal to be in this position though.”
South African Nikhil Rama and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen share third place on 12 under par.
Five players sit one shot further back in fifth, including Werner Deyzel, Lyle Rowe, Jovan Rebula and Michael Hollick from South Africa, and Belgian Matthis Besard who will return to complete his second round on Saturday.
Round two will re-start on Saturday morning at 6:30am, with round three not due to start before 8:20am.
