Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey produced a blistering seven-under-par 65 in the second round of the Tshwane Open in Centurion, South Africa, to move to within three shots of halfway leader Ross Fisher.
Hoey, who shot a three-under-par 69 in the first round probably wasn’t feeling too chipper when he walked on to the fifth tee, having bogeyed the par-five fourth and, while he might have been more even tempered after a birdie on the eighth, he couldn’t have envisaged what he was about to do.
Having turned in level par, he then produced a staggering run of figures with seven consecutive birdies from the 10th to the 16th, before finishing with a brace of pars to sit 10 under. It superseded a wonderful run of five birdies in-a-row the previous day. He certainly likes the back nine at the Copperleaf Golf and Country Estate.
“I made five in a row at the Dunhill Links (which he won in 2011) which was my record, and then I equalled that yesterday,” said Hoey afterwards. “When I made four today, I told myself to just try for my record. I made that, then I tried to break my record. Once I reached seven, I tried not to think of how far I could go.
“I had a good putt for birdie on 17, but the greens had become a little bumpy late in the day and my ball bounced, and still only just lipped out. And I was careless on 18 and didn’t repair a pitch mark, which meant I lipped out again on my birdie putt.”
It also proved to be a very good day for European Tour rookie Kevin Phelan, who added a 69 to his opening 68 for a seven under total at the halfway stage.
Shane Lowry endured a frustrating day before signing for a 71 and a 36-hole total of five under.
The news wasn’t so good for Damien McGrane (74, 70), Gareth Maybin (75, 71) and Peter Lawrie (76, 76) all of whom missed the cut which fell at three under par.
Fisher has his sights set on a first European Tour title in almost four years after claiming a one-shot lead.
He stormed home in just 30 strokes to card a round of 65 on the 7,964-yard, Ernie Els-designed course, the longest in European Tour history. That gave the 33-year-old former Ryder Cup player a halfway total of 13 under, one ahead of Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen, the South African Open winner also returning a flawless 65.
Fisher was only one under par at the turn after a birdie on the first was followed by eight pars, but picked up further birdies on the 10th, 13th, 16th and 17th, along with an eagle from 40 feet on the 15th.
“It was pretty special. Any time you can do that is very pleasing,” said Fisher, whose last win came at the Irish Open in 2010, although he did lose a play-off for the Perth International last October. I made a nice birdie on the start of the back side and then hit a lovely shot into 13 to about a foot and that really got me going. Eagling the par-five was a huge bonus. It was a shame not to birdie 18, but it was nice to cosy that chip up stone dead and walk off seven under.”
Fisher reached a career-high 17th in the world in 2009 after finishing fifth in the US Open and winning the Volvo World Match Play Championship, but is currently ranked 82nd after failing to keep his card on the PGA Tour in 2013.
“I set high expectations for myself having got to 17 in the world,” he added. “I’ve gotten there before and I know I can get back, it’s just a case of working hard. I haven’t won for a few years, even though I’ve played well. I’ve had chances and the putter has let me down for a number of tournaments and for quite some time now. To see the ball going in yesterday and holing some nice putts today gives me a lot of confidence and it all bodes well for a good weekend.”
England’s Simon Dyson and Spain’s Carlos del Moral lie two shots off the lead after rounds of 68 and 65 respectively, with Hoey joined by South African trio Darren Fichardt, Jake Roos and Trevor Fisher on 10 under.
Dyson, who had shared the clubhouse lead after an opening 65, said: “It’s always tough to follow a low score because you always feel like you’re losing ground on what you had the day before. I’ve been out here quite a while now and I knew there were plenty of chances to come today. “I also knew that I was putting nicely, so I just stayed patient and hit good putts and eventually a few of them dropped.”
Tshwane Open, Copperleaf Golf&Country Estate, South Africa
(Gbr&Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
131 Ross Fisher 66 65
132 Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 67 65
133 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 68 65, Simon Dyson 65 68
134 Jake Roos (Rsa) 69 65, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 68, Michael Hoey 69 65 , Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 65 69
135 Chris Wood 67 68, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 65, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 65
136 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 71 65, Danie Van Tonder (Rsa) 66 70, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 68 68
137 Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 67, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 67, Kevin Phelan 68 69 , Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 71 66
138 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 71, Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 69 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 70, David Howell 69 69, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 68, Jared Harvey (Rsa) 66 72, Andy Sullivan 69 69, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 66 72, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 67
139 Daniel Brooks 72 67, Ricardo Santos (Por) 68 71, Heinrich Bruiners (Rsa) 69 70, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 70 69, Daan Huizing (Ned) 68 71, James Morrison 69 70, Tyrrell Hatton 70 69, Anthony Wall 68 71, Shane Lowry 68 71 , Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 71 68
140 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 72 68, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 69, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 70 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 70, Paul Waring 70 70, Jack Doherty 69 71, Cj Du plessis (Rsa) 71 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 70, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 69 71, Ruan De smidt (Rsa) 69 71, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 71 69
141 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69, Doug McGuigan 71 70, Warren Abery (Rsa) 71 70, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 70, Callum Mowat (Rsa) 72 69, Oliver Fisher 73 68, Robert Rock 70 71, Marc Warren 73 68, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 72 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 69, Tyrone Mordt (Rsa) 70 71, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 74, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 67 74, Matthew Baldwin 72 69, Ryan Cairns 72 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 67, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 69, James Kamte (Rsa) 72 69
The following players failed to make the halfway cut:
142 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 68 74, Titch Moore (Rsa) 71 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 70, Toto Thimba jnr (Rsa) 70 72, Peter Whiteford 69 73, Johan Carlsson (Swe) 74 68, Michael Hollick (Rsa) 73 69, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 69, Connor Arendell (USA) 71 71, Colin Nel (Rsa) 71 71, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 70 72, Mark Foster 70 72, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 70 72
143 Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa) 74 69, Tyrone Ryan (Rsa) 75 68, Simon Wakefield 74 69, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 70 73, Jamie McLeary 72 71, Pablo martin Benavides (Rsa) 71 72, David Drysdale 72 71, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 70 73, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 72 71, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 70 73, Eddie Pepperell 74 69
144 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 69 75, Richard Bland 73 71, Damien McGrane 74 70 , Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 68 76, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 74, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 75, Omar Sandys (Rsa) 72 72, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 71 73, Tommy Fleetwood 73 71, Peter- Henric McIntyre (Rsa) 71 73, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 73, Ross McGowan 72 72
145 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 73 72, Brinson Paolini (USA) 73 72, Robert Dinwiddie 76 69, (x) Garrick Porteous 74 71, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 72 73, Graeme Storm 71 74, Lyle Rowe (Rsa) 72 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 72, Andreas Harto (Den) 72 73, Charl Coetzee (Rsa) 73 72
146 Gareth Maybin 75 71 , Alan McLean 73 73, Keenan Davidse (Rsa) 72 74, Gert Myburgh (Rsa) 73 73, Jj Senekal (Rsa) 73 73, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 71 75, Roberto Lupini (Rsa) 75 71, Francois Calmels (Fra) 73 73, Christopher Doak 74 72
147 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 73 74, Martin Du toit (Rsa) 74 73
148 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 76 72, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 71 77, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 79 69, Morne Buys (Rsa) 76 72, Stuart Manley 76 72, Grant Veenstra (Rsa) 74 74, Joachim B Hansen (Den) 72 76, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 73 75, Sam Walker 74 74, Grant Muller (Rsa) 76 72, Allan Versfeld (Rsa) 73 75, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 75 73, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 72 76, Gregory Havret (Fra) 76 72
149 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 74 75, James Heath 74 75, Peter Lawrie 73 76 , Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 74 75
150 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 76 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 80
151 Graham Van Der Merwe (Rsa) 69 82, Sipho Bujela (Rsa) 83 68
152 Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 78 74, Scott Jamieson 76 76
154 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 75 79
155 Ryan Strauss (Rsa) 77 78, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 74 81, Nic Henning (Rsa) 78 77
Withdrawn Yubin Jung (Rsa) 83
