South African Open: World number four Retief Goosen criticised the Links at Fancourt course after the second round of the South African Open yesterday. Only eight players are under par on the par-73 Gary Player-designed course, including Goosen, who is in second position on three-under 143.
After three-putting for a bogey four on the viciously-sloping second green, Goosen was heard to mutter something sarcastic about the design.
But the South African made a good comeback with five birdies and only one more dropped shot in a three-under 70 which put him within five strokes of leader Ross Fisher of Britain.
"The pin placing on the second hole is a bit ridiculous. It's right up against the slope and there was just no way you could even get it inside, so you had to go 15 feet to the left of the flag," said Goosen.
"I don't know quite what they were thinking. There's not much place to put the ball on the green there.
"The bunkers are also horrendous, very tricky. The felt under the sand was showing in some of them and you often can't really get the ball anywhere or you have to chip out sideways, like I did on 16," added Goosen.
"The greens are pretty hard and every shot is hard work, especially when you're not playing well.
"You're grinding it out there, not strolling, that's for sure. It's the same for everybody but conditions are only going to get worse."
Goosen's general play did not help his cause either. "My swing is definitely not there. Yesterday I was very bad off the tee and I had to keep chopping out sideways.
"I was a bit better today, at least I kept the ball in play more," said Goosen, who is bidding for his second South African Open title.
Fisher shot a three-under-par 70 to put him top of leaderboard for the second consecutive day.
Fisher carded a five-under-par 68 on Thursday and yesterday's 70 left him ay eight under par - five ahead of nearest challenger Goosen.
Fisher's round included seven birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey on the 448 yard par-four 12th, aptly named Sheer Murrrder.
He started with a drop when he missed a straightforward par putt on the first but came back quickly with birdie at the tough par-three second.
"My game isn't really suited to links courses but over the years I've managed to control the flight of my ball. I enjoy it though - it's a great challenge. You really have to be imaginative around the greens."
Fisher is looking for his biggest win to date, with his best finish after turning professional in 2004 his joint fourth at the Volvo China Open three weeks ago.
However, he intends to concentrate on having fun for the remainder of the event and try to enjoy being in contention.
South African Tim Clark, the defending champion who led after day one with Fisher, slipped down to joint sixth with a five-over-par 78.
The five Irish players failed to make the cut, with Gary Murphy just missing out by one stroke.
Windy conditions are expected at the Links today, which will add to the already tough scoring conditions with the cut falling at eight over par.
Second round scores
(Rsa unless stated, par 73):
138 - Ross Fisher (Eng) 68 70
143 - Retief Goosen 73 70.
144 - James Kingston 71 73, Charl Schwartzel 70 74, Leonard Loxton 73 71.
145 - Keith Horne 73 72, John Bele 72 73, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 75.
146 - Tim Clark 68 78, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 77, Ernie Els 76 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 74, David Lynn (Eng) 72 74, Francesco Molinari (It) 71 75.
147 - Tjaart Van der Walt 76 71, Darren Fichardt 78 69, Phillip Archer (Eng) 74 73, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 75 72, Jean Hugo 73 74, Oliver Whiteley (Eng) 72 75
148 - Richard Sterne 75 73, Ian Hutchings 74 74, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 76 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 75, Louis Oosthuizen 76 72 149 Kevin Stone 75 74, Justin Rose (Eng) 74 75, Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 76 73, Warren Abery 75 74
150 - Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 75, Titch Moore 74 76, Warrick Druian 72 78, Desmond Terblanche 76 74, David Griffiths (Eng) 73 77, Mark Murless 75 75, Alan Michell 75 75, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 75, Andrew McLardy 72 78, Bobby Lincoln 77 73, Chris Davison 75 75
151 - Peter Karmis 76 75, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 76 75, Doug McGuigan (Sco) 79 72, Lee Slattery (Eng) 76 75, Andrew Coltart (Sco) 75 76, Scott Dunlap (USA) 74 77, Anton Haig 72 79, Michael Lamb (Zim) 79 72, Dean Lambert 73 78, Trevor Immelman 77 74, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 74 77
152 - Steve Van Vuuren 75 77, Patrick O'Brien 78 74, Malcolm MacKenzie (Eng) 75 77, Trevor Fisher Jnr 77 75, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 80 72, James Kamte 77 75
153 - Ashley Roestoff 80 73, Bradford Vaughan 77 76, Michiel Bothma 82 71, Hendrik Buhrmann 80 73, Michele Reale (Ita) 78 75, Desvonde Botes 73 80, Gary Clark (Eng) 77 76, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 79 74, Omar Sandys 79 74, Jaco Van Zyl 71 82
154 - Neil Cheetham (Eng) 76 78, Felipe Aguilar (Col) 77 77, David Dixon (Eng) 77 77, Martin Maritz 78 76, Miguel Carballo (Arg) 78 76, David Drysdale (Sco) 77 77, Ariel Canete (Arg) 79 75, Shaun Norris 75 79, Brett Liddle 79 75, Dijon Tintinger 77 77, Francis Valera (Spa) 77 77, Garry Houston (Wal) 82 72, Ross Wellington 78 76.
The following failed to make the cut
155 - Benn Barham (Eng) 76 79, Gary Murphy (Irl) 82 73, Tuomas Tuovinen (Fij) 80 75, Marcel Siem (De) 79 76, David Bransdon (Aus) 79 76, Justin Walters 76 79, Graeme Storm (Eng) 78 77, Grant Veenstra 77 78, Hennie Otto 77 78, Grant Muller 80 75, Jaco Rall 77 78. 156 - Sam Walker (Eng) 77 79, Henk Alberts 79 77, Nic Henning 78 78, Anders Sjostrand (Swe) 74 82, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 72 84, Andre Cruse 77 79, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 82, David Higgins (Irl) 75 81, Rossouw Loubser 77 79 157 - Stephen Browne (Irl) 78 79, Lindani Ndwandwe 79 78, Dawie Van der Walt 82 75, Charl Coetzee 77 80, Simon Wakefield (Eng) 78 79, David Carter (Eng) 78 79, Sean Farrell (Zim) 81 76, Werner Geyer 76 81, John Mashego 75 82, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 78 79. 158 - Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 82 76, Nico Van Rensburg 74 84, Matthew Millar (Aus) 77 81, Bafana Hlophe 85 73, Robert Rock (Eng) 82 76, Sammy Daniels 76 82, Thomas Aiken 75 83, Fulton Allem 80 78, Damien McGrane (Irl) 75 83, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 74 84. 159 - Ulrich Van Den Berg 76 83, Andy Matthews (USA) 78 81, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 81 78, Gavin Levenson 80 79, Iain Pyman (Eng) 82 77, Sion Bebb (Wal) 81 78, Markus Brier (Aut) 79 80, Paul Dwyer (Eng) 78 81, Tom Whitehouse (Eng) 78 81. 160 - Steven O'Hara (Sco) 78 82, Alexandre Rocha (USA) 86 74, Dale Burraston 81 79. 161 - Kieran Staunton (Eng) 79 82, Wallie Coatsee 81 80. 162 - Michael Kirk (USA) 78 84, David Frost 80 82, Nico Le Grange 79 83, Michael Van de Venter 78 84, Chris Williams 81 81, Josh Cunliffe 83 79. 163 - Sam Little (Eng) 79 84, Michael Scholz 81 82, Shaun P Webster (Eng) 84 79. 164 - Derick Petersen 81 83, John Bickerton (Eng) 80 84, Mawonga Nomwa 80 84. 165 - Toni Karjalainen (Fij) 84 81, Jon Campbell 77 88. 166 - Vaughn Groenewald 83 83. 167 - Justin Harding 81 86, Steve Basson 85 82, Alan McLean (Sco) 82 85. 172 - George Coetzee 84 88 173 - Billy Valentyn 85 88.
