Williams in the driver's seat at Fortress Invitational

Defending champion Robin Williams said an outstanding start and playing in the same threeball as a charging Daniel van Tonder were pivotal to his 65 on Friday, which gave him the lead after the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams backed up his excellent 64 on the first day with a seven-under-par round that lifted him to 15-under-par at the halfway stage of the R2 million event, with Van Tonder firing a fabulous nine-under 63 on Friday to sit just one stroke behind on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe (67) and Jovan Rebula (66) are a further two strokes behind, while first-round leader Kyle Barker is on nine-under, six behind, after a level-par 72 on Friday.

Williams made three birdies in the first four holes, and reached the turn in five-under, but as most of the field found, the back nine was more testing and he came home in two-under, including a bogey at the par-three 12th.

Van Tonder was the exception as he birdied the 10th, 11th and 14th holes and then eagled the 477-metre, par-five 17th to come home in 31.

Daniel van Tonder makes this eagle on the 17th hole to put pressure on the leaders. 📊#FortressInvitational #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/RwnuH1uDi6

— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) October 18, 2024

“I had a good start and that set the tone for the whole round. I just had to keep the momentum going,” Williams said.

“I’m very happy. You’re always pleased when you put yourself in position to win. I’ve gone above my expectations already. It’s my first title defence ever and there was quite a lot of pressure.

“But my favourite part of today was playing with Daniel. We fed off each other. He played seriously good golf today and I’m looking forward to us pushing each other, bringing out the best in each other, over the weekend. It was great fun with him today and there was a stretch where he just could not stop getting birdies and I was just trying to keep up with him,” Williams said.

Because of the exciting promise he has shown and his success in the last year, Williams has had to mature quickly under the weight of attention. Especially after his sensational fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“It’s been tough handling all the external stuff, but I’m kinda learning how to handle it day in, day out. When I put my South African SIM card back in my phone, the number of messages waiting for me after the Dunhill Links was hectic.

“But I’m going to have to get used to it and learn to enjoy it. I still want to get my story out there as much as possible,” the 23-year-old Williams said.

Van der Merwe is 27 years old and only turned pro this year, but he showed why his amateur record was so good as he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes by collecting four birdies in the next five holes.

Rebula’s 66 included just one bogey and an eagle on the par-five 11th.