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Kinhult leads by three at halfway stage at Leopard Creek

motorsport13 December 2024 16:35
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Marcus Kinhult will take a commanding three-shot lead into the weekend at the Alfred Dunhill Championship after following up Thursday's stunning 65 with a second-round 68 on another red hot day at Leopard Creek Country Club.

The Swede began the day a single shot off the lead after producing the lowest afternoon score in sweltering heat on day one.

And he continued to impress on Friday, making the most of cooler morning conditions before the temperature rose later in his round.

The 28-year-old, whose only DP World Tour title to date came at the 2019 Betfred British Masters, made a total of seven birdies and three bogeys in his 68 to reach 11 under par.

None of the afternoon starters came close to catching Kinhult at the summit, with home favourite Dean Burmester, England's Dale Whitnell and Italian Andrea Pavan his nearest challengers on eight under.

After opening his second round with a bogey, Kinhult recovered with back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth before adding another at the sixth.

He dropped another shot on the par-three seventh but got it straight back at the eighth as he turned in 33 blows.

Kinhult made a lightning-quick start to the back nine with birdies at the tenth, 11th and 13th to move to 12 under before carding a bogey on the long 15th.

He then holed a clutch par putt from around ten feet at the 16th to avoid further damage and safely parred the final two holes to set a daunting total that no-one could match.

Kinhult said: "It was hot. It was actually OK this morning, I would say, but after five or six holes I got the umbrella up and tried to hide under that for most of the day.

"It was a good day so I'm happy.

"Yesterday was really good, I'm super happy with that round. I feel like I played well today also but I didn't quite take advantage of the par fives today. I think that was the only difference.

"But I'm not upset. It was a good score today and I'm looking forward to two more rounds.

"Hopefully we can keep improving and we'll see where that takes us."

© europeantour.com

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