Hot-shot Chacarra leads Dunhill golf at Royal Johannesburg

For the second day running in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Royal Johannesburg, Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra has played the kind of swashbuckling golf which would have made his late, great compatriot Seve Ballesteros downright proud.

The 24-year-old Chacarra leads this DP World Tour event on 15-under-par 129 following a first day 63 and a second round 66. He is two clear of South Africa’s Jaden Schaper who posted a 64 Thursday for 131 with compatriot Branden Grace and England's John Parry next best on 132, followed by Michael Hollick who had a day's best 63, Oliver Bekker and JC Ritchie on 133.

How it stands in South Africa heading into the weekend at the top 🇿🇦#DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/nhWJJRyvTg

The charismatic Chacarra walks fast, plays fast, operates with a great deal of confidence, flair and gusto, constantly talks to himself which he says keeps him positive, hits outrageously long drives – mostly straight but, when occasionally off-line, he shows amazing powers of recovery, the kinds of recovery that made Seve famous.

It blew all day at Royal, and Chacarra began his afternoon round with an eagle three at the par-5 opening hole. "Conditions were tricky but that was a nice start," he said. He then birdied 3, 6 and 8 to complete the par-37 first nine in five-under 32. He dropped at 10 and 11, once said to be the longest back-to-back par-4s in world golf, and still today long and demanding.

Eugenio Chacarra with a monster putt at the third hole to start 3-3-3 on Friday 🤯#DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/C4LIxs4AlF — DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 12, 2025

"I made a couple of bad swings and paid for it at 10 and 11 but I bounced back nicely by making birdie twos at 12 and 16," he explained. He then picked up an unlikely shot at the par-5 18th where he hooked his drive into the trees. Then came a miracle "Seve" recovery as he hit a high seven-iron with a pronounced draw around the branches onto the green and two-putted for birdie.

In Ballesteros's hey day he was known as Sevvy. Now we have "Chaqui" (pronounced Chukky). There’s a similar ring to the two nicknames. And pretty much like Sevvy, Chaqui seems to be the real deal.

Schaper - call him "Mr Precision" played in the morning and posted a flawless, bogey-free, eight-under-par 64 in blustery conditions.

Meticulous in his approach to golf, the 24-year-old South African – starting his round at the 10th hole – birdied holes 13, 15, 17 and 18. Then on the front nine he picked up shots at holes 1, 6, 7 and 8 in a fast finish.

Jayden Schaper shoots a second round bogey-free 64 to lead the way in Johannesburg 🇿🇦#DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/38EBjkUasg — DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 12, 2025

Schaper’s excellent golf comes after finishing joint second with England’s Don Bradbury, just one behind winner Kristoffer Reitan of Norway, in last week’s Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.

“I’m playing well and so pleased to be 13-under at this stage because I was off to a slow start in the first round here,” said Schaper, referring to the fact that he bogeyed four of the first seven holes he played yesterday. “It wasn’t that I was playing badly. It was just that I was having difficulty judging the yardages here on the highveld. Once I sorted that out the birdies started dropping.”

It’s a bit of a cliché but Schaper is known for being able to shape the ball well, and his putter was hot on his way to 64. At the treacherous par-5 sixth hole, where to reach the green in two the approach is a long one over water, he faced a tricky 12-footer for birdie. But in it went. And at the par-5 eighth he hit his second into a very difficult spot in a greenside bunker. His splash shot was well executed from a tight lie, but the ball rolled about 15 feet past the pin.

“I couldn’t have done much better than that with the bunker shot,” he said. But, again, in went the putt for a birdie. “That was probably my best birdie out there today,” he said.

SCORES

129 - Eugenio Chacarra 63 66

131 - Jayden Schaper 67 64

132 - John Parry 66 66, Branden Grace 65 67

133 - Michael Hollick 70 63, Oliver Bekker 66 67, JC Ritchie 67 66

134 - Daniel van Tonder 65 69, Christiaan Burke 63 71

135 - Louis Oosthuizen 67 68, Joel Girrbach 69 66, Thriston Lawrence 64 71, Dylan Frittelli 68 67, Karabo Mokoena 66 69, Antoine Rozner 68 67, Andrea Pavan 68 67

136 - Marcel Schneider 70 66, Brandon Robinson Thompson 65 71, Shaun Norris 67 69, Oliver Lindell 70 66, Mikael Lindberg 67 69, Samuel Simpson 65 71, Pierre Viallaneix 68 68, Aldrich Potgieter 67 69, Dean Burmester 67 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 67 69

137 - Marcus Armitage 67 70, Calum Hill 68 69, Ockie Strydom 70 67, Jacob Olesen 69 68, Jonathan Broomhead 69 68, Haydn Porteous 69 68

138 - Justin Walters 69 69, James Morrison 70 68, Brandon Stone 64 74, Jamie Rutherford 71 67, Casey Jarvis 67 71, Romain Langasque 67 71

139 - Angel Ayora 68 71, Darius van Driel 67 72, Hennie du Plessis 69 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 70 69, Niklas Lemke 68 71, Junghwan Lee 70 69, Herman Loubser 70 69, Jeff Winther 72 67, Martin Couvra 70 69, Nacho Elvira 71 68, Jaco Prinsloo 68 71, Luke Brown 69 70

140 - Daniel Young 69 71, Aaron Cockerill 68 72, David Ravetto 69 71, Kieran Vincent 72 68, MJ Viljoen 67 73, Hugo Townsend 70 70, Rocco Repetto 69 71, Ben Schmidt 66 74, Jorge Campillo 67 73, JJ Senekal 69 71, Marcel Siem 67 73, Ryggs Johnston 71 69, Yurav Premlall 73 67

141 - Manuel Elvira 72 69, Zander Lombard 71 70, Ruan Korb 68 73, Luis Carrera 70 71, Nathan Kimsey 69 72, Alejandro Del Rey 70 71, Pablo Larrazabal 67 74, Jaco Ahlers 70 71, Stuart Krog 72 69, Dan Bradbury 68 73, Deon Germishuys 71 70, Daniel Cronje 69 72, Oihan Guillamoundeguy 73 68, Daniel Bennett 69 72, Sebastian Garcia 70 71, Altin van der Merwe 74 67

Missed the cut:-

142 - Scott Jamieson 73 69, Ross Fisher 70 72, Rupert Kaminski 73 69, Nick Bachem 70 72, Wynand Dingle 72 70, Stals Swart 72 70, George Coetzee 74 68, Yuto Katsuragawa 73 69, Pieter Moolman 72 70

143 - Martin Vorster 73 70, Grant Forrest 69 74, Guido Migliozzi 69 74, Tobias Jonsson 71 72, Jordan Burnand 69 74, Marcus Kinhult 73 70, Kyle Barker 72 71, David Law 73 70, Quim Vidal 72 71, Felix Mory 73 70, Heinrich Bruiners 71 72, Austin Bautista 69 74, Robin Williams 72 71, Richard Sterne 69 74, Louis Albertse 72 71

144 - Luke Jerling 71 73, Joost Luiten 75 69, Stephen Ferreira 72 72, Wilco Nienaber 72 72, Ryan Van Velzen 71 73, Angel Hidalgo 72 72, Jean Hugo 73 71, Todd Clements 72 72, Jovan Rebula 73 71

145 - Rhys Enoch 71 74, Julien Guerrier 72 73, Joe Dean 70 75, Lyle Rowe 74 71, Jens Dantorp 72 73, Adam Blomme 73 72

146 - Ricky Hendler 72 74, Neil Schietekat 73 73, Sam Bairstow 73 73, Keenan Davidse 72 74, Malcolm Mitchell 74 72, Jacques Kruyswijk 75 71, Robson Chinhoi 73 73, Ivan Cantero 71 75, Bjorn Akesson 74 72, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 75

147 - Graham van der Merwe 70 77, Darren Fichardt 69 78, Dylan Mostert 74 73, Albin Bergstrom 72 75, Jake Bolton 73 74, Warwick Purchase 72 75, Nikhil Rama 69 78, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 74, Jack Senior 71 76, Louis de Jager 76 71

148 - Dylan Naidoo 72 76, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 77, Ronald Rugumayo 75 73, Jason Roets 74 74, Francesco Laporta 77 71, Jacques Blaauw 72 76

149 - Euan Walker 71 78, Bryan Newman 74 75, Charl Barnard 80 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 76 73, Danie Van Niekerk 76 73

150 - Werner Deyzel 72 78

151 - Joshua Berry 73 78

152 - Luca Filippi 74 78

153 - Jacquin Hess 82 71

155 - Trevor Mahoney 79 76

156 - Marcus Sandile Taylor 72 84

158 - Joshua Koekemoer 80 78