Amateur Schaper shaping up well in South African Open

Teenage amateur Jayden Schaper sits a single shot behind tournament leader Tapio Pulkkanen following day two at the South African Open in Johannesburg.

The 18-year-old South African is bidding to become the first amateur winner of the event since 1959 and the first amateur to win on the European Tour since Shane Lowry lifted the Irish Open trophy in 2009.

Playing alongside defending champion Louis Oosthuizen, Schaper made five birdies in six holes on the back nine of the Firethorn Course to catapult himself to 10 under.

He is joined in joint second place by compatriots Jaco Ahlers, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Thriston Lawrence and England's Sam Horsfield.

Shane Lowry enjoys solid first round in Hong Kong

---

Shane Lowry moves into the top 10 in Hong Kong

---

Gavin Moynihan six off the lead after 68 in South Africa

---

“It’s special to be up at the top of the leaderboard,” Schaper told the European Tour website.

“I’m just going to take it one shot at a time and see what happens, if the opportunity comes I’ll grab it with both hands and try my best to take it.”

There was a seven-way tie for the lead at one point on an enthralling day at Randpark Golf Club. Finland’s Pulkkanen eventually secured a slender advantage at the midway point of the competition after carding a bogey-free round, which included five birdies.

“It was a really good round, it was a lot of grinding,” said the 29-year-old.

“I’ve had 10 weeks off from tournaments – a long, long break for me – and I went to the US to practise and I think I found my game a little bit so I feel comfortable right now.”

Overnight leader Johannes Veerman dropped to joint seventh, two strokes off the lead, after five bogeys saw him only make par.

The American sits alongside Englishmen Jack Senior and Harry Hall and South African Daniel Greene.

Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open Championship winner, is among 12 players one shot further back along with compatriots George Coetzee and Branden Grace.

Gavin Moynihan finished eagle-birdie to make the cut, a two-under 69 moving him to five under and a tie for 44th position.

Jonathan Caldwell also made the weekend after a three-under 68 saw him beat the cut by a shot on four under.

Former Walker Cup player Conor Purcell missed out after he finished on level par after a second straight round of 71.

LEADERBOARD
(British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateurs

131 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 65 66

132 Sam Horsfield 64 68, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 66 66, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa) 67 65, (a) Jayden Trey Schaper (Rsa) 65 67, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 65 67

133 Johannes Veerman (USA) 62 71, Harry Hall 65 68, Daniel Greene (Rsa) 67 66, Jack Senior 67 66

134 Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 67 67, Connor Syme 66 68, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 64 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 69, Mark Williams (Zim) 67 67, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 63 71, Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 65, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 67 67, Andy Sullivan 66 68, Keith Horne (Rsa) 69 65, Branden Grace (Rsa) 64 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 65 69

135 JC Ritchie (Rsa) 63 72, Matthew Baldwin 65 70, CJ Du Plessis (Rsa) 66 69, 135 Marcel Siem (Ger) 66 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 68 67, Wynand Dingle (Rsa) 68 67, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 66 69

136 Jeff Winther (Den) 65 71, Chris Paisley 68 68, Steve Surry 69 67, Oliver Farr 68 68, Matias Calderon (Chi) 64 72, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 65, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 66, Rhys Enoch 69 67, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 68, Hurly Long (Ger) 70 66, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 67, (a) James Du Preez (a) (Rsa) 71 65, (a) Philip Geerts (Ita) 66 70, Thomas Detry (Bel) 68 68

137 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 66 71, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 68 69, Martin Rohwer (Rsa) 66 71, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 67 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 67, Ross McGowan 69 68, Marcus Armitage 65 72, Richard Bland 70 67, (a) Lorenzo Scalise (Ita) 68 69, (a) Juran Dreyer (Rsa) 69 68, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 70 67, Gavin Moynihan 68 69, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 66 71, Luke Jerling (Rsa) 67 70, (a) David Micheluzzi (Aus) 65 72

138 Ruan Ger Smidt (Rsa) 66 72, Marc Warren 70 68, Rourke Van Der Spuy (Rsa) 64 74, Philip Eriksson (Swe) 70 68, Jarryd Felton (Aus) 67 71, (a) Christo Lamprecht (Rsa) 70 68, Jonathan Caldwell 70 68, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 66 72, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 70 68, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 67, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 68, Chase Hanna (USA) 70 68, Joachim B Hansen (Den) 70 68, Casey Jarvis (Rsa) 68 70, Estiaan Conradie (Rsa) 72 66, (a) Deon Germishuys (Rsa) 70 68, Dave Coupland 71 67, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 70 68

MISSED CUT

139 Justin Harding (Rsa) 69 70, Luke Brown (Rsa) 70 69, Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 68, Toto Thimba Jnr (Rsa) 64 75, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 69, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 68 71, Ricardo Santos (Por) 70 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 70 69, Musiwalo Nethunzwi (Rsa) 67 72, James Kamte (Rsa) 72 67, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 65 74, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68, Ben Evans 72 67, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 69 70, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 69 70, Wil Besseling (Ned) 73 66, (a) Jovan Rebula (Rsa) 70 69, Laurie Canter 73 66, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 68 71, (a) Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 70 69, Daniel Young 69 70, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 72, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 71

140 David Drysdale 69 71, MJ Viljoen (Rsa) 66 74, Toby Tree 69 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 69, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 69 71, Doug McGuigan 68 72, Caylum Boon (Rsa) 68 72, Robin Petersson (Swe) 71 69, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 70 70, Anthony Michael (Rsa) 70 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 67, David Howell 71 69, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 70 70, Garrick Porteous 71 69, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 68 72

141 Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 68 73, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 70 71, Callum Mowat (Rsa) 72 69, Jean-Paul Strydom (Rsa) 67 74, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 68 73, Jake Redman (Rsa) 69 72, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 70 71, Ruan Conradie (Rsa) 70 71, Ockie Strydom (Rsa) 72 69, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 73 68, Damien Perrier (Fra) 72 69, Jake Roos (Rsa) 72 69, Stefan Wears-Taylor (Rsa) 69 72, Fredrik From (Swe) 70 71, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 72 69

142 Michael G Palmer (Rsa) 71 71, Benjamin Poke (Den) 69 73, James Morrison 71 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 72, Jonathan Agren (Swe) 71 71, Jordan Wrisdale 70 72, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 71 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 71, (a) Dylan Naidoo (Rsa) 73 69, Riekus Nortje (Rsa) 72 70, (a) Louis Albertse (Rsa) 72 70, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 74 68, Merrick Van Asm (Rsa) 72 70, Conor Purcell 71 71

143 Paul Boshoff (Rsa) 72 71, Daniel Van Tonder (Rsa) 69 74, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 71 72, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 71 72, Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 73 70, Stephen Ferreira (Por) 70 73, Lars Van Meijel (Ned) 68 75, David Law 72 71, Andre Ger Decker (Rsa) 69 74, Makhetha Mazibuko (Rsa) 70 73, Richard McEvoy 74 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 71, Madalitso Muthiya (Zam) 72 71, Dylan Kok (Rsa) 69 74

144 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 75, Duane Keun (Rsa) 70 74, Jacques P Ger Villiers (Rsa) 67 77, Dale Whitnell 70 74, (a) Yurav Premlall (Rsa) 69 75, Derick Petersen (Rsa) 70 74, Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 68 76, Quintin Wilsnach (Rsa) 75 69, Teaghan Gauche (Rsa) 74 70, Keenan Davidse (Rsa) 74 70, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 71 73, Ryan Cairns (Zim) 69 75, Bennie Van Der Merwe (Rsa) 72 72, Jordan Duminy (Rsa) 69 75, Eddie Pepperell 73 71, (a) Theunis Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 73 71

145 James Kingston (Rsa) 71 74, Thabiso Ngcobo (Rsa) 68 77, Heinrich Bruiners (Rsa) 74 71, Daan Huizing (Ned) 70 75, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 70 75, Stanislav Matus (Cze) 74 71, JJ Senekal (Rsa) 75 70, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 70 75, Kieron Van Wyk (Rsa) 74 71, Craig Howie 74 71, Dwayne Basson (Rsa) 74 71, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 75 70, Lee Slattery 73 72, Max Schmitt (Ger) 73 72, Lyle Rowe (Rsa) 75 70, Keelan Van Wyk (Rsa) 72 73, (a) Herman Loubser (Rsa) 72 73

146 Chris Wood 71 75, Aron Zemmer (Ita) 73 73, Allister Ger Kock (Rsa) 71 75, Daniel Gavins 71 75, Martin Simonsen (Den) 70 76, Robin Roussel (Fra) 69 77, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 72 74, Andrew Van Der Knaap (Rsa) 70 76, Ewan Ferguson 72 74, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 71 75, Andre Nel (Rsa) 72 74, Martin Vorster (Rsa) 71 75, Franklin Manchest (Rsa) 73 73

147 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 73 74, Combrinck Smit (Rsa) 71 76, David Dixon 73 74, Roberto Lupini (Rsa) 73 74, Kyle Barker (Rsa) 70 77, Benjamin Follet-Smith (Zim) 79 68, Anton Prinsloo (Rsa) 73 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 75

148 Peetie Van Der Merwe (Rsa) 69 79, Basil Wright (Rsa) 69 79, David McIntyre (Rsa) 73 75, Samuel Simpson (Rsa) 77 71, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 75 73, Coert Groenewald (Rsa) 78 70, Kyle Ger Beer (Rsa) 76 72

149 Dylan Mostert (Rsa) 76 73, Titch Moore (Rsa) 77 72, Gerrit Foster (Rsa) 76 73

150 Kyle McClatchie (Rsa) 75 75, JSpaer Sandborg (Swe) 75 75, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 80, James Allan 77 73, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 76 74, Tom Gandy (IOM) 72 78

151 Terence Mogapi (Rsa) 75 76, Jacquin Hess (Rsa) 74 77

152 Callum Shinkwin 74 78, Clayton Mansfield (Rsa) 77 75, Gary Stal (Fra) 79 73

153 Adriel Poonan (Rsa) 73 80, Keelan Africa (Rsa) 76 77

154 Chris Cannon 74 80, Tyrone Ryan (Rsa) 81 73, Cameron Esau (Rsa) 79 75

156 Clinton Grobler (Rsa) 77 79