Frenchman Alexander Levy came to the bushveld seeking inspiration on his journey back to the DP World Tour, and he certainly found it amidst the giraffe, wildebeest and a 36-hole total of 12 under par that gives him a share of the lead into the weekend of the SDC Open at Zebula Country Club.
Levy added a second round of 68 to his opening 64 to share the lead with South Africa’s Louis Albertse (65) and Welshman Rhys Enoch (66) at the halfway stage of this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned tournament.
The trio are one shot clear of Wilco Nienaber on a leaderboard that is more tightly packed than a game drive at a lion spotting.
“I’m really pleased,” said Levy, who set the clubhouse target on Friday morning before he was caught later in the afternoon. “I didn’t have my A game today so to shoot under par was really good.”
Levy, a five-time winner on the DP World Tour who is looking to regain that form, turned level par for his round while not feeling entirely comfortable with his game. But his experience showed on the back nine as he made four birdies to maintain his place at the top of the leaderboard after also sharing the lead in the first round.
“I’m proud of what I did on the back nine. I was struggling on the front nine and didn’t feel my swing was good. It was the first time I’ve played here in the morning so it was a little bit more windy. But I just said to myself to stay calm and try to hit good shots at the right time. Then I started to play a little better and it’s nice to come back like I did and hit some good shots at the end of the round. I had a good birdie on the last to get some good momentum for tomorrow. The game is there.”
Levy’s experience will certainly count on a weekend that is set up for some thrilling golf.
Nienaber is looking like a golfer who has come into this year with a new approach that is clearly working as he chases his second Challenge Tour title.
On 10 under par Gerhard Pepler’s second round of 64 suggests he is enjoying his time in the bushveld, and Ryan van Velzen is just three shots back and chasing back-to-back victories following his win in last week’s Mediclinic Invitational.
SCORES:
132 - Alexander Levy 64 68, Louis Albertse 67 65, Rhys Enoch 66 66
133 - Wilco Nienaber 64 69
134 - Malcolm Mitchell 65 69, Gerhard Pepler 70 64, Curtis Knipes 68 66, Jbe Kruger 67 67, Angel Ayora 65 69
135 - Ryan Van Velzen 69 66, Dylan Naidoo 71 64, Chris Paisley 65 70, Benjamin Follett-Smith 66 69, Philipp Katich 68 67
136 - Joshua Berry 70 66, Quim Vidal 71 65, Jamie Rutherford 71 65, Daniel Young 69 67, Martin Rohwer 69 67, Keith Horne 70 66, Deon Germishuys 67 69, Gary Hurley 68 68, George Bloor 69 67
137 - Matthew Spacey 66 71, Pieter Moolman 68 69, Ross Mcgowan 70 67, Jean Hugo 67 70, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 70 67, Niklas Regner 69 68
138 - Hamish Brown 68 70, Joel Moscatel 72 66, Neil Schietekat 69 69, Robin Roussel 69 69, Lars van Meijel 65 73, Kyle Barker 66 72, John Parry 69 69, Willie Olivier 70 68, Daniel van Tonder 74 64, Hayden Hopewell 70 68
139 - Oliver Farr 72 67, Gregorio De Leo 69 70, Sam Hutsby 71 68, Lee Slattery 68 71, Tom Shadbolt 65 74, Herman Loubser 72 67, David Langley 68 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 70, Dylan Mostert 73 66, Wynand Dingle 70 69, Jonathan Broomhead 70 69, Martin Vorster 68 71, Sean Bradley 71 68
140 - Justin Walters 71 69, Rupert Kaminski 68 72, Aron Zemmer 70 70, Keenan Davidse 74 66, CJ du Plessis 71 69, Nikhil Rama 70 70, Christoffer Bring 70 70, Luke Jerling 69 71, Stuart Krog 71 69, Anthony Michael 70 70, Martin Couvra 71 69, Craig Howie 73 67, Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 68, Makhetha Mazibuko 69 71, Ben Schmidt 72 68, Lyle Rowe 68 72, Danie Van Niekerk 71 69
Missed the cut:
141 - Jack McDonald 73 68, Luca Filippi 71 70, Oliver Bekker 74 67, Javier Sainz 73 68, Dan Erickson 71 70, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 70 71, Christiaan Basson 72 69, Estiaan Conradie 74 67, Bjorn Akesson 71 70, Hennie Otto 68 73, Hennie O'Kennedy 70 71, MJ Viljoen 72 69, Jason Roets 70 71
142 - Pierre Pineau 71 71, Robin Williams 74 68, Peter Karmis 73 69, JC Ritchie 73 69, James Allan 72 70, Robson Chinhoi 71 71, Yurav Premlall 70 72, George Mason 70 72, Rourke van der Spuy 70 72, Anton Karlsson 70 72, Jake Redman 73 69, Callum Mowat 73 69
143 - Albert Venter 73 70, Alfie Plant 71 72, Bryce Easton 72 71, Tristen Strydom 73 70, Jovan Rebula 71 72, Gary Boyd 73 70, LB Boshoff 69 74, Ashley Chesters 73 70, Keelan van Wyk 71 72, Ruan Conradie 72 71, Sean Cronje 74 69, Jordan Gumberg 73 70, Thomas Aiken 73 70, Heinrich Bruiners 70 73, Keagan Thomas 69 74, Ronan Mullarney 71 72
144 - JJ Senekal 72 72, Lucas Vacarisas 70 74, Clement Guichard 75 69, Julien Sale 72 72, Bradley Bawden 74 70, Gregory Bourdy 72 72, Toto Thimba Jnr 74 70, DK Kim 70 74, Maxence Giboudot 69 75, Martin Simonsen 73 71, Ricardo Santos 71 73, Christofer Blomstrand 71 73, Jacques P de Villiers 74 70, Dermot Mcelroy 70 74, Ronan Kleu 72 72, Lars Keunen 69 75
145 - Justin Harding 74 71, Toby Tree 74 71, Haraldur Magnus 72 73, Romain Wattel 73 72, Andoni Etchenique 73 72, Rhys Thompson 72 73, Ruan Korb 69 76, Mikael Lindberg 73 72, Borja Virto 73 72, Victor Pastor 69 76
146 - Michael Stewart 75 71, Jaco Van Zyl 74 72, Jacques Blaauw 74 72, Gary Stal 71 75, Adam Breen 70 76
147 - Sentanio Minnie 70 77, Rhys West 72 75, Clement Berardo 78 69, Tomas Gouveia 73 74, Kiet van der Weele 73 74
148 - Pietro Bovari 75 73, Alejandro Canizares 75 73
152 - Combrinck Smit 77 75, Wade Jacobs 74 78, Jeremy Freiburghaus 75 77, Mateusz Gradecki 76 76, James Kamte 78 74
153 - Jastice Mashego 74 79
157 - Merrick Bremner 79 78
162 - Christiaan Burke 78 84