Svensson leads SA Open as Jarvis stays in the hunt

Jesper Svensson will take a one-shot lead into the weekend of the Investec South African Open Championship and with young South African Casey Jarvis maintaining his challenge in a group of three players chasing the Swede at the Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate.

Svensson signed for a second round of 67 on Friday to lead on nine under par as he hopes to become only the third Swedish winner of the Investec South African Open and the first since Henrik Stenson in 2012.

Mathias Grönberg was the first in 2000.

“It feels great halfway through the tournament and I’m happy to be in a good position going into the weekend,” said Svensson, who teed off his second round on the 10th and made four birdies in his first five holes to set the tone for his charge up the leaderboard.

“I had a hot start and the putter was on fire from the beginning. But it was a long day. It feels like a never-ending golf course out there.”

Behind him is the trio of Jarvis, Italy’s Matteo Manassero and first-round leader Joakim Lagergren of Sweden.

After a 70 to remain in contention, Jarvis is certainly looking forward to a big weekend in front of his home fans.

“I can’t wait to get out there again. I just had a lot of fun with my caddie today and we were very relaxed out there. It felt like another social round out there and I’ll try and approach it the same over the next two days,” said Jarvis, who was level par at the turn before making three straight birdies.

“I didn’t play the best on the front nine and kind of told myself to get going when I got to the turn, and those three birdies really helped.”

Jarvis is doing his best to apply the patience he learnt in a strong season on the European Challenge Tour as he heads into the weekend with a place in South African golf history in sight.

“Patience is key and I think I’m doing that well. It’s a big goal of mine to start well in these first few events of the new DP World Tour season at home and I’m trying to take advantage of that. I’ve put myself in a good position and I’ll give it my all.”

Altin van der Merwe was the only amateur to make the halfway cut of level par as he came through 36 holes on one under par, and he will therefore win the Freddie Tait Cup as the leading amateur in the Investec South African Open.

SCORES

135 - Jesper Svensson 68 67

136 - Joakim Lagergren 65 71, Matteo Manassero 68 68, Casey Jarvis 66 70

137 - Frederic Lacroix 69 68, Ryan Van Velzen 72 65, David Ravetto 68 69

138 - Oliver Bekker 71 67, Matti Schmid 70 68, Hennie du Plessis 68 70, Louis de Jager 67 71, Romain Langasque 69 69

139 - Andy Sullivan 67 72, Darius van Driel 69 70

140 - Jayden Schaper 70 70, Darren Fichardt 70 70, Deon Germishuys 69 71, Jeong Weon Ko 72 68, Renato Paratore 69 71, Jacques P de Villiers 69 71, Hunter Epson 72 68, Jovan Rebula 67 73, Ross Fisher 71 69, Sebastian Friedrichsen 69 71, Francesco Laporta 69 71

141 - Thriston Lawrence 70 71, Heinrich Bruiners 68 73, Dan Bradbury 71 70, Nick Bachem 75 66, Andrea Pavan 70 71, Dale Whitnell 74 67, James Morrison 71 70, Johannes Veerman 71 70, Scott Jamieson 70 71, Robin Williams 72 69

142 - Ethan Smith 71 71, Martin Couvra 74 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 74, Jaco Ahlers 70 72, Shubhankar Sharma 73 69, David Law 72 70, Kiradech Aphibarnrat 74 68, Wilco Nienaber 72 70, Kalle Samooja 69 73, Charl Schwartzel 72 70, Espen Kofstad 71 71, Gavin Green 72 70, Sean Bradley 70 72

143 - Jaco Van Zyl 71 72, Marcel Schneider 72 71, Louis Albertse 69 74, Will Enefer 68 75, Freddy Schott 74 69, Matthew Southgate 72 71, Marco Penge 75 68, Jacques Kruyswijk 72 71, Adrien Saddier 71 72, Altin van der Merwe 72 71

144 - Zander Lombard 71 73, Dean Burmester 70 74, Lorenzo Scalise 72 72, Ugo Coussaud 69 75, Santiago Tarrio 75 69, Matthias Schwab 68 76, Alejandro Del Rey 70 74, Filippo Celli 72 72, Dylan Naidoo 72 72, Luca Filippi 73 71, Combrinck Smit 68 76, Aaron Cockerill 72 72, Max Rottluff 73 71

MISSED THE CUT

145 - Thomas Aiken 71 74, Shaun Norris 77 68, Dylan Frittelli 72 73, Yurav Premlall 76 69, Rupert Kaminski 72 73, Dan Erickson 71 74, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez 76 69, Kyle Barker 71 74, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 75, Clement Sordet 74 71, Andrew Johnston 77 68, Rourke van der Spuy 72 73

146 - Danie Van Niekerk 71 75, Edoardo Molinari 76 70, Jack Davidson 70 76, Samuel Simpson 76 70, Christiaan Maas 73 73, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 75, Stefan Wears-Taylor 75 71

147 - Ashun Wu 74 73, Wynand Dingle 71 76, Anthony Michael 72 75, Lyle Rowe 70 77, Jean Hugo 73 74, Albert Venter 75 72, Manuel Elvira 73 74, Aneurin Gounden 74 73

148 - Martin Vorster 74 74, Tristen Strydom 71 77, Pieter Moolman 73 75, Sam Bairstow 74 74, Keenan Davidse 75 73, Gerhard Pepler 75 73, Bradley Bawden 71 77

149 - David Rowland Montague Amm 76 73, Jaco Prinsloo 77 72, Stuart Manley 76 73, Chase Hanna 73 76, Matthew Spacey 78 71

150 - Christo Lamprecht 76 74, Ewen Ferguson 77 73, Stephen Gallacher 77 73, Alexander Knappe 75 75, Adam Blomme 77 73, Thabang Simon 74 76, Trevor Fisher Jnr 75 75, Benjamin Rusch 73 77, Joel Girrbach 75 75

151 - Oliver Wilson 73 78, Jacques Blaauw 77 74, Jordan Burnand 80 71, Daniel van Tonder 71 80, Dylan Mostert 74 77, Hennie Otto 73 78, JC Ritchie 68 83, Martin Rohwer 72 79, Anton Karlsson 72 79, Mateusz Gradecki 77 74, Jake Redman 71 80, Merrick Bremner 81 70, Peter Karmis 75 76, MJ Viljoen 73 78, Daniel Bennett 72 79, LB Boshoff 74 77

152 - Ruan Korb 72 80, Neil Schietekat 71 81

153 - Nikhil Rama 73 80, Brandon Stone 75 78

154 - Malcolm Mitchell 75 79, Keagan Thomas 78 76, Ivan Cantero 76 78, Hennie O'Kennedy 74 80, Joachim B. Hansen 76 78, Keagan Crosbie 76 78, Christiaan Basson 79 75

155 - Ivan Verster 78 77

156 - Matthis Besard 75 81, James Hart du Preez 79 77

157 - Keelan van Wyk 74 83

158 - Robson Chinhoi 78 80

161 - Toto Thimba Jnr 77 84

162 - Slenda Sithebe 83 79

163 - Henning du Plooy 79 84, Tristin Galant 80 83

RTD - Daniel Brown RTD