Julien Brun took the window of opportunity he was given and claimed the clubhouse lead in Friday’s second round of the SDC Championship before the wind suddenly turned and play was suspended at St Francis Links.
The wind of Thursday forced the first round to be completed on Friday morning and with no change to the shared lead held by David Ravetto and Kristian Krogh Johannessen.
On a beautiful Friday morning with only a slight breeze, Brun then went out and put together a solid 67 for the lead on eight under par.
One shot behind him, the trio of England’s Matthew Baldwin (67), South Africa’s Albert Venter (67) and Swede Jens Dantorp also took their morning chance and climbed to seven under overall.
Dantorp did so with an impressive 63 that by Friday afternoon made it seem like he was playing another tournament.
And as the flags suddenly changed direction, so did the afternoon’s play.
According to DP World Tour Senior Referee Kevin Feeney, the severe wind gusts forced the suspension of play at just before 2pm. It was later decided at 4::15pm to call off play altogether and resume at 7am on Friday.
“We had gusts of up to 65 kilometres per hour on the back nine and up to 70 kilometres per hour on the front nine. We’ve just been very unlucky in what is a fabulous spot. We’ll restart on Friday morning, in position, at 7am.”
The story of the day two-afternoon field at St Francis Links ??
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) March 17, 2023
?? Play has been suspended, a further update will be communicated at 16:30 CAT #SDCChamps | #SDCChampionships | #GreatnessBeginsHere | @DPWorldTour pic.twitter.com/jmF4RivJQU
The sudden change in conditions has made for interesting adjustments by the professionals, with even Brun admitting he found it difficult.
“This morning was the first time I’ve played this course without wind this week. It was definitely a lot more receptive so you could make more birdies and have more fun out there. But it’s extremely tricky. First off, you have to recover and get the energy back from a very long and tiring first round in that wind. Then your swing is also messed up because you have to go back to playing normal shots without the wind. I struggled with that adjustment to my game. It’s a big mental test.”
Behind him, Venter had a day where he followed up a double-bogey six on the 11th hole with five birdies in six holes as he took advantage of the easier morning conditions.
“I played well and fought back quite hard. My caddie and I have worked out the golf course and how we want to play it. There are scoring opportunities out there but you have to start by keeping the ball in play here. It’s still anyone’s game out there and I’m looking forward to the weekend and the challenge that lies ahead.”
How things stand after day two ??#SDCChampionship | #SDCChamps | #GreatnessBeginsHere pic.twitter.com/sBr24lrqSK
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) March 17, 2023
INCOMPLETE SCORES
-8 - Julien Brun 69 67
-7 - Matthew Baldwin 70 67, Albert Venter 70 67, Jens Dantorp 74 63
-5 - Jean Hugo 72 67, David Ravetto 67 (Par) [9], Kristian Krogh Johannessen 67 (Par) [2]
-4 - Richie Ramsay 73 67, Antoine Rozner 72 68, Sami Valimaki 70 70, Rafa Cabrera Bello 73 67, Sean Cronje 69 (-1) [8], Nick Bachem 69 (-1) [7], Justin Harding 71 (-3) [7], Connor Syme 68 (Par) [7]
-3 - James Kamte 71 70, Tom McKibbin 76 65, Ewen Ferguson 72 (-3) [8], Jordan Smith 73 (-4) [6], Ross Fisher 71 (-2) [4]
-2 - Thomas Aiken 72 70, Jaco Ahlers 78 64, Jbe' Kruger 73 69, Brandon Stone 72 (-2) [8], Alexander Levy 70 (Par) [3], Joost Luiten 69 (+1) [3]
-1 - Dylan Naidoo 75 68, George Coetzee 72 71, Oliver Bekker 72 71, CJ du Plessis 74 69, Jaco Van Zyl 74 69, Daniel van Tonder 75 68, Matthew Southgate 74 69, Aaron Cockerill 77 66, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 71 72, Merrick Bremner 71 72, Keagan Thomas 79 64, Dylan Mostert 73 (-2) [9], Daniel Brown 70 (+1) [7], Adri Arnaus 72 (-1) [6], John Catlin 71 (Par) [6], Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 (-1) [5], Gavin Green 72 (-1) [4], Mateusz Gradecki 71 (Par) [3], Robin Williams 72 (-1) [1], Todd Clements 71 (Par) [1]
Par - Luca Filippi 73 71, Dale Whitnell 73 71, Yeongsu Kim 74 70, Andy Sullivan 72 72, Luke Brown 75 69, Shaun Norris 74 70, Luke Jerling 78 66, Jaco Prinsloo 72 72, Bryce Easton 73 71, Pedro Figueiredo 73 (-1) [8], Thriston Lawrence 72 (Par) [6], Philip Eriksson 72 (Par) [3], Louis de Jager 71 (+1) [2], Martin Simonsen 69 (+3) [1]
+1 - David Law 71 74, Lukas Nemecz 72 73, Darren Fichardt 71 74, Pieter Moolman 79 66, John Axelsen 75 70, Hurly Long 74 (-1) [7], Adrian Otaegui 75 (-2) [5], Hennie O'Kennedy 72 (+1) [5], Daan Huizing 74 (-1) [5], Jeff Winther 72 (+1) [4], Matthieu Pavon 75 (-2) [4], Anton Karlsson 73 (Par) [4], JC Ritchie 71 (+2) [3], Ruan Korb 71 (+2) [2], Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 (Par) [2]
Missed the cut:
+2 - Mikko Korhonen 79 67, Ockie Strydom 75 71, Tristen Strydom 77 69, Daniel Gavins 77 69, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen 73 73, Romain Langasque 76 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 70 76, Herman Loubser 77 69, Rupert Kaminski 75 (-1) [7], Casey Jarvis 73 (+1) [7], Louis Albertse 70 (+4) [6], Wilco Nienaber 75 (-1) [5], Zander Lombard 71 (+3) [5], Deon Germishuys 75 (-1) [3], Hennie Otto 73 (+1) [3], Julien Guerrier 73 (+1) [3], Keenan Davidse 72 (+2) [3], Darius van Driel 72 (+2) [3], Neil Schietekat 73 (+1) [2], Gerard du Plooy 73 (+1) [1]
+3 - Ryo Hisatsune 73 (+2) [6], John Parry 73 (+2) [4], Lyle Rowe 76 (-1) [3], Jeong Weon Ko 76 (-1) [2], Jake Redman 73 (+2) [2]
+4 - Jayden Schaper 76 72, Adilson Da Silva 74 74, Kalle Samooja 73 75, Hennie du Plessis 74 74, Joachim B. Hansen 77 71, Combrinck Smit 76 72, Manu Gandas 75 (+1) [7], Maximilian Kieffer 75 (+1) [5], Alexander Knappe 74 (+2) [4]
+5 - Rourke van der Spuy 76 73, Ruan Conradie 77 72, Calum Hill 76 (+1) [5], Stephen Ferreira 75 (+2) [4], James Morrison 76 (+1) [3], Nacho Elvira 74 (+3) [3], Rhys West 77 (Par) [1]
+6 - Wil Besseling 79 71, Heinrich Bruiners 76 74, Jacques Blaauw 77 73, Yurav Premlall 80 70, Tapio Pulkkanen 77 (+1) [3], Ryan Van Velzen 77 (+1) [1]
+7 - Shubhankar Sharma 80 71, Martin Rohwer 75 76, Estiaan Conradie 81 70, Allister de Kock 77 74, Keelan van Wyk 76 75, Jamie Donaldson 79 (Par) [7], JJ Senekal 77 (+2) [3], Clement Sordet 76 (+3) [3], Alex Haindl 78 (+1) [2], Aneurin Gounden 78 (+1) [2]
+8 - Ma Chengyao 79 73, Niklas Norgaard 76 (+4) [2], Wynand Dingle 80 (Par) [2]
+9 - Johannes Veerman 78 75, Michael Palmer 76 77, Reinhardt Blaauw 84 (-3) [8], Oliver Wilson 75 (+6) [8], Dan Bradbury 79 (+2) [5]
+10 - Jeremy Freiburghaus 84 70, Mikael Lindberg 79 75, Kyle Barker 77 77, Anthony Michael 80 (+2) [3]
+11 - Jacques Kruyswijk 83 72, James Mack 77 78, Justin Walters 80 (+3) [4]
+12 - Tobias Eden 79 77
+13 - Oliver Hundeboll 83 (+2) [2]
+14 - James Hart du Preez 84 74
+15 - Alejandro Del Rey 81 78, Franklin Manchest 81 78, Matthew Jordan 77 (+10) [3]
RTD - Marcel Schneider 78 RTD [8], Jacquin Hess RTD RTD, Freddy Schott 80 RTD [9]