England's Andy Sullivan has one local major champion hot on his heels at the halfway stage of the South African Open, but surprisingly another dropped well off the pace in Johannesburg.
Sullivan added a 70 to his opening 66 at Glendower Golf Club to reach eight under par, one shot ahead off former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and eight clear of four-time major winner Ernie Els.
Tournament host Els, who has won the event five times, was just one shot behind Sullivan after an opening 67 but slumped to a second round of 77 which featured back-to-back triple bogeys around the turn.
Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin is level par after a 73 but Dubliner Peter Lawrie missed the cut by one shot when signing for a 76 and a three-over-par total.
Schwartzel, who has yet to win his national open, finished birdie, eagle, birdie to record a 69 while Sullivan — who won a trip into space for a hole-in-one during the KLM Open last year — carded four birdies and two bogeys in pursuit of his first European Tour title.
The 27-year-old from Nuneaton, who recorded four top-five results on his way to finishing 33rd on the Race to Dubai last season, told European Tour Radio: “I thought it was going to be a really good knock on the front nine, but a few little errant drives meant the rough got its payback on me today.
“But anything in red figures (under par) is good so I am really happy with the position I am in. I thought I did well on eight to make birdie after a couple of smelly holes in the middle.”
As for his prospects of a first win, Sullivan added: “When I get in these positions I find myself enjoying it more. It’s where you want to be, you practise to be in these situations and I am playing with the guys I always wanted to as a kid. It’s fantastic.
“It’s new territory to be up there after two rounds but hopefully I can take what I usually do in rounds three and four and blow the field away.”
Schwartzel was considering pulling out of the event after fracturing a toe by walking into a piece of furniture, but he recovered from bogeys on his first two holes and insisted he was relishing the tough challenge posed by Glendower’s thick rough and narrow fairways.
“Any national open should be the most difficult tournament and this week really is a good challenge,” the 2011 Masters champion said. “The only reason I have not pulled out is that I can actually hit the ball without pain. For some reason I can turn onto the foot but the walking is a challenge.
“I was struggling for a whole bunch of last year but started working with my dad again to recreate the feelings I had and get the old basics back. It’s starting to get more comfortable and I’m at least hitting shots that I’m seeing.
“I got off to a really iffy start this morning, missed a few short putts and the conditions got difficult, but I just figured if I could somehow get to level par and try again tomorrow, and I was pretty much on track until a nice finish at the end.”
Els had made a good start to his second round with a birdie on the second, but he bogeyed the next two holes. After a birdie on the sixth, the 45-year-old dropped another shot on the eighth and then found water with his second shot to the ninth to run up a triple-bogey seven and reach the turn in 40.
It went from bad to worse for Els when he also took seven on the 10th, where he failed to escape a fairway bunker at the first attempt and then three-putted from long range. That left him two over par and battling to avoid a first ever missed cut in the event, but birdies at the 13th and 14th ensured he would be around for the weekend.
Compatriots Colin Nel and JJ Senekal fared considerably better with rounds of 70 and 67 respectively to share third place with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen on six under.
