First-round leader MJ Viljoen played another solid round of golf but home favourite Dayne Moore was too great an adversary in the second round of the Mopani Zambia Open at Nkana Golf Club on Friday as he shot a spectacular 64, that included a hole-in-one, to snatch top spot on the leaderboard.
Viljoen followed up his excellent 66 in the first round with a two-under 70 on Friday, but still surrendered a two-stroke lead to Moore, whose 64 was his best ever round on the Sunshine Tour.
The Zambian’s hole-in-one came on the par-three third hole, but Moore produced plenty of superb golf as he went bogey-free and collected six birdies as well.
The story of how hometown hero Moore got the ace on home soil. 🏡 🇿🇲#MopaniZambiaOpen #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour https://t.co/wuq8K3wKSB pic.twitter.com/oTX5wW6FLB
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) June 14, 2024
“Three is such a tough hole and I was just trying to get on to the top level, to be honest,” Moore said. “It was 221 metres to the flag and down off the right, and I hit a high six-iron which just came off exactly how I wanted.
“But the scorer at the back of the green wasn’t looking, so there was no reaction. When I walked up to the green, I actually started looking over the green at first. It’s my third hole-in-one and I got one on the Big Easy Tour at Wingate two years ago.
“But apart from being lucky at the third, my putter worked really well, especially on quite a few clutch par putts. And I hit 15 greens in regulation. I’ve been seeing coach Neil Cheetham and he has completely changed my long game, he has helped me a lot. That’s where I was lacking, because my short game has always been something I could lean on,” Moore said.
Moore leapt up to 10-under-par going into the weekend, and Viljoen was also on that mark after 12 bogey-free holes on Friday that included an eagle on the par-five second.
But the par-fours coming in proved his stumbling block as he dropped shots on the 13th, 14th and 16th holes, before birdieing the par-five 17th to finish on eight-under-par.
Kyle Barker also had an excellent second round, shooting a 68 to claim third spot on six-under-par.
Jacques P de Villiers and Fredrik From both shot 70s to share fourth place on four-under-par, while Lyle Rowe completed the top six, notching a level-par 70 on Friday for three-under-par.
Jason Roets was sharing second place after the first round with Keegan Thomas, but tumbled down the leaderboard on Friday, having six bogeys in his 76 that saw him finish on level-par.
Thomas suffered even more, struggling to an 80 in the second round, which left him on four-over-par.
Catch up with clubhouse leader 🇿🇲 Dayne Moore. 📊#MopaniZambiaOpen #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/UMofx3XvO6
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) June 14, 2024
SCORES:
134 - Dayne Moore 70 64
136 - MJ Viljoen 66 70
138 - Kyle Barker 70 68
140 - Jacques P de Villiers 70 70, Fredrik From 70 70
141 - Lyle Rowe 69 72
142 - Brandon Pieters 70 72, Daniel van Tonder 72 70
143 - Visitor Mapwanya 70 73, Graham van der Merwe 72 71, CJ du Plessis 72 71, Madalitso Muthiya 69 74
144 - Otto Van Buynder 70 74, Jason Roets 68 76, Heinrich Bruiners 69 75
145 - Luke Brown 75 70, Kyle De Beer 74 71, Robson Chinhoi 73 72, Therion Nel 73 72, Werner Deyzel 71 74
146 - Brandon Gildenhuys 73 73, Hennie O'Kennedy 73 73, Jack Hawksby 73 73, Stuart Krog 72 74, Pierre Pellegrin 75 71
147 - Njoroge Kibugu 70 77, Conner Mackenzie 75 72, Ricky Hendler 72 75, James Mack 72 75, Nick Cunningham 74 73, Francois van Staden 71 76, Haydn Porteous 74 73, Keegan Mclachlan 74 73, Samuel Simpson 74 73
148 - Keagan Thomas 68 80, Basil Wright Jr 72 76, Gary Kemp 75 73, Bwembwa Chanda 76 72, Rhys West 73 75, Neil Schietekat 74 74, Drikus Joubert 75 73, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 77
149 - Hayden Griffiths 70 79, Kyle McClatchie 73 76, Stals Swart 78 71, Rourke van der Spuy 77 72, Kelly Tembo 78 71, Gabriel Chibale 73 76, Jean Hugo 75 74
150 - Sydney Joseph Wemba 74 76, Promise Sombreiro 78 72, Gilbert Chalwe 76 74, Danie Van Niekerk 75 75, Jake Redman 76 74, Stephen Ferreira 78 72, Travis Ladner 74 76
151 - Adrian Andrade 76 75, DK Kim 75 76, Jake Roos 76 75, Nji Pristhly 72 79, Johan Theron 76 75, Henry Mwanza 73 78, Tristin Galant 74 77, Ruan Groenewald 75 76
Missed the cut:
152 - Terence Boardman 76 76, Christian Kriek 72 80
153 - James Pennington 76 77, Warwick Purchase 76 77, Timothy M Sondashi 74 79, Shaahid Mahmed 79 74, Ruan de Smidt 73 80, Christopher Long 77 76, Pride Sembo 76 77, Tiger Adams 77 76
154 - David Amm 76 78, Ntengwa Mukosa 75 79, Gerhard Pepler 78 76, Ethan Smith 79 75, Adam Breen 76 78, Dominic Musonda 75 79, Innocent Chalwe 77 77, Umar Davids 79 75, Michael Chuma 75 79
155 - Leonard Chibwe 79 76, Aaron Simfukwe Jnr 82 73, Jordan Duminy 78 77
156 - Denmark Mulambo 74 82, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 77 79, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 77 79
157 - Luke Trocado 74 83
158 - Paul Adam Chidale 79 79, Thabang Simon 76 82
159 - Biggie Chibvuri 80 79, Funga Ebenenzer 74 85, Davison Elijah 74 85, Victor Kachepatsonga 77 82, Steven Le Roux 75 84, Morton Muwowo 80 79
160 - Lwazi Gqira 78 82
161 - Patrick Mwendapole Snr 80 81
162 - Regan Steyn 84 78
163 - Adam Sailesi 81 82, Tongoona Charamba 82 81, Anyway Katembenuka 79 84
164 - Liberty Gumisa 80 84, Keagan Bwalya 82 82
165 - Raphael Phiri 78 87, Dezzie Ngandu 81 84
166 - Francis Musonda 80 86, Beza Daka 84 82
167 - Mapalo Shakemba 83 84, Moses Chewe 85 82, Daniel Delpierro 78 89
170 - Gibson Mutoya 87 83
183 - Benjamin Fouche 90 93
191 - Aadam Hamir 90 101
RTD - Irvin Mazibuko 81 RTD