Hot-shot Chacarra leads Alfred Dunhill Championship 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 on 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' heyday, 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.

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.