A snowman got in the way of Shane Lowry’s progress at Sun City in the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as an ugly triple-bogey eight left the Irish golfer sliding down the leaderboard.
Lowry made light of the windy conditions, firing five birdies in his first 10 holes to move to five under and into a share of the lead.
The first bogey of his round came on the 11th before making a hames of the par-five 14th, where he ran up the eight.
A birdie-two on the short 16th got him back to two under before a bogey on the 18th saw him sign for a one-under 71.
Lowry’s two-round total of one under leaves him in a tie of 10th position, five shots off leader Victor Dubuisson.
The French golfer claimed a two-shot lead after carding a two-under 70 to reach six under, but his advantage would have been greater had it not been for a bogey at the last after missing the green and then firing his chip 25 feet past the hole.
Dubuisson’s momentum was halted after he birdied the 15th to move three clear when the threat of lightning forced a two-and-a-half-hour suspension.
By then second-placed South African Darren Fichardt, who was not even in the field on Thursday morning but got in as a late reserve, and Lee Westwood were safely home in the clubhouse on four under after rounds of 69 and 70 respectively.
Windier conditions made scoring more difficult than the opening day with just 12 under-par rounds posted.
Lowry’s slip on the 14th allowed overnight leader Bernd Wiesberger back in front only for the Austrian to leak three shots in two holes early in his round to leave Dubuisson two clear at the top on six under.
Wiesberger failed to recover from that slip and carded a five-over 77 to drop out of contention.
Pádraig Harrington carded a level-par 72 to remain on two over and a tie for 30th position, but Paul Dunne slipped back to six over in the no-cut event after a four-over 76.
Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood shot a 74 to slip to three over to leave him with the remotest of chances of clinching the title with a win this week.
SUN CITY LEADERBOARD
British and Irish unless stated (par 72)
138 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 68 70
140 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 69, Lee Westwood 70 70
141 Alex Noren (Swe) 69 72, Ross Fisher 70 71, Tyrrell Hatton 71 70, Scott Jamieson 68 73
142 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 69
143 Julian Suri (USA) 68 75, Richie Ramsay 73 70, Benjamin Herbert (Fra) 74 69, Paul Waring 70 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 72, Shane Lowry 72 71, Branden Grace(Rsa) 68 75
144 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74, Alexander Bjork (Swe ) 71 73 , David Horsey 73 71, Louis Oosthuizen(Rsa) 71 73, Bernd Wiesberger(Aut) 67 77, Graeme Storm 69 75, Lee Slattery 70 74
145 David Drysdale 72 73, Callum Shinkwin 70 75, Ryan Fox (Nzl)71 74, Gregory Bourdy(Fra) 75 70, Nacho Elvira(Esp) 70 75, Hideto Tanihara(Jpn)69 76
146 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 75, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 72 74, Haydn Porteous(Rsa) 73 73, Ian Poulter 74 72, Sam Brazel(Aus) 74 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa)74 72, Pádraig Harrington 74 72
147 Haotong Li (Chn) 70 77, Chris Wood 72 75, Marc Warren 71 76, Tommy Fleetwood 73 74, Fabrizio Zanotti(Par) 70 77, Matthew Fitzpatrick 70 77
148 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 78, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 75, Jorge Campillo(Esp) 71 77, Eddie Pepperell 74 74, George Coetzee(Rsa) 77 71
149 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 78, Alexander Levy (Fra) 72 77, Dean Burmester(Rsa) 77 72, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha)74 75, Stephen Gallacher 74 75
150 Matt Wallace 75 75, Paul Dunne 74 76, David Lipsky (USA) 74 76, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 75 75, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 74 76, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 72 78, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 76 74
151 Andy Sullivan 79 72, Andres Romero (Arg) 74 77, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 76 75, Renato Paratore(Ita) 72 79, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 76 75
152 Romain Wattel (Fra) 76 76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 79 73, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 73 79
153 Scott Hend (Aus) 80 73
155 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 76 79, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 78 77
156 Jordan Smith 76 80
