An eagle on the 14th helped Dongkwan Kim to a second-round of seven-under-par 65 in the Altron Big Easy Tour tournament at Huddle Park Golf Club, propelling him to a share of the top spot with overnight leader, Ricky Hendler on 11-under-par, on Tuesday.
“I made a five on that hole yesterday,” said Kim, recalling how he played the par-five 14th. “I had 123 in. The funny thing is that until the sixth hole, I thought that hole was a par-four and I thought I’d dropped on that hole. Today, I hit my driver a bit into the wind; hit it nicely and had 125 and a pitching wedge. It was a seven-metre putt, so yeah, my putting was good today.”
Kim made four straight pars to get his round going and then birdied the fifth and sixth holes. Two more pars on the seventh and eighth followed before Kim made another birdie before the turn.
That birdie on nine was followed by another on 10, and then another on 12, before his eagle on 14 made its way onto his card and sealing a bogey-free round.
“I didn’t want to force things,” adds Kim. “and I think I played well. I made some long putts today and with Huddle Park being reasonably short, I played a lot of wedges today. I felt like I was losing shots when I didn’t make birdies but I told myself to stay patient and that was my mind-set for the whole round.”
His effort on moving day earned him a spot alongside Hendler at the summit, with the overnight leader producing a fine round of 67 to keep his spot atop the leaderboard.
Hendler was three-under through his first five holes on moving day after a hat-trick of birdies on the third, fourth and fifth holes. He made more gains on the seventh, walking away with a birdie there that was followed by another on the ninth.
Bogey-free and assured on the front nine, the left-hander kept things steady after the turn with back-to-back pars helping him stay tuned in.
But an unwanted bogey on 12 entered his card. He kept his cool and made pars on 13 and 14. Birdies on 15 and 16 got Hendler going in the final stretch but a bogey on the last hole ensured he was not too far out of reach for Kim and the rest of the field.
“I was playing very well today and I was five-under through nine, with a three-putt,” said Hendler who plays out of Dainfern Golf Club.
“I played well the whole day and I wanted to give it a go on the back nine because I was playing really well. I hit the ball well, hit my irons really good too, just a lot of three-putts. There were some tricky pins today.”
Taking up the third spot on the leaderboard after round two was Reinhardt Blaauw whose 66 on moving day helped him to a tournament total of eight-under-par. Jason Froneman, Tumelo Molloyi, Slade Pickering, Keaton Slatter, Luan Boshoff, Coert Groenewald and Nicholaus Frade share the fourth spot on seven-under-par for the week.
The Big Easy Tour was founded in 2011 with support from Ernie Els and counts current international star Christiaan Bezuidenhout among its former Order of Merit winners.
SECOND-ROUND SCORES
133 - Ricky Hendler 66 67, DK Kim 68 65
136 - Reinhardt Blaauw 70 66
137 - Jason Froneman 68 69, LB Boshoff 67 70, Slade Pickering 66 71, Tumelo Molloyi 70 67, Keaton Slatter 69 68, Coert Groenewald 69 68, Nicholaus Frade 70 67
138 - Matthew Rushton 70 68
139 - Allister de Kock 67 72, Lwazi Gqira 68 71, Jason Roets 70 69, Zabastian de Jager 68 71, Dayne Moore 72 67, Andrew Williamson 72 67
140 - Gregory Mckay 70 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 70 70, Jastice Mashego 73 67
141 - Marthin Scheepers 67 74, Regan Steyn 71 70, Ruan de Smidt 70 71, Carlos Laranja 72 69, Cameron Moralee 71 70
142 - Jacquin Hess 69 73, Keegan Mclachlan 76 66, Luke Trocado 69 73, Nash de Klerk 70 72, Philip Geerts 72 70