SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN:MICHAEL Lorenzo-Vera holds the lead halfway through the South African Open after his second round score of seven-under-par 65 left him two shots clear of the field.
The Frenchman, who played the back nine first at the Pearl Valley Golf Estates, was faultless through his round, especially impressing through the midway stage with six birdies in seven holes.
That set him up to lead from Lee Westwood, Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel and Damien McGrane - the Irishman's eight-under 64 giving him the honour of joint best effort of the day.
The early clubhouse leader Thomas Aiken was the other man who managed a 64 to move nine under overall, alongside Ireland's Gareth Maybin (69) and Dave Horsey, another player to have an excellent round two with a bogey-free seven-under-par 65.
Two-time champion Retief Goosen leads a bunch of players, including Michael Hoey who shot a fine 66, at eight under par, while another well-known South African Rory Sabbatini is back at seven under with Chris Wood, who finished fifth at the Open at Royal Birkdale earlier this year also on the same score.
But it was a day to remember for the 23-year-old leader and he admitted his main aim coming into the competition was to test his right wrist, which he injured two months ago by falling over some stairs.
"It feels pretty good, pretty cool to be leading because I had two months of rest because of my wrist," said Lorenzo-Vera, who was playing in his first tournament since the injury.
"So I was just coming here to find some new feelings. Today was just like yesterday, the putting was very good. The first nine, the putts were not very good, I think mainly because they were long putts. But the second nine I hit the irons much closer. But everything was good."
Looking forward to his chances for the weekend, the Biarritz-based player said he was hoping to make his good position count. "I hope this time I'm going to catch it. There were few occasions last year that I let it go, so I'm just going to try and make it a good weekend. I'll be aiming to hit a lot of greens in regulation like I did today."
Four-time winner Els too was optimistic about his chances.
He said: "It's only the second round, halfway through the tournament and still so much to happen. I'm at 10 under and pretty pleased with that. I had a nice day and even if a guy is at 15 under I don't care.
"We've got two rounds left. If I'm two shots behind with two to play I still have a chance to win, so there's still plenty of golf left."
McGrane, who won the 2008 Volvo China Open, attributed his success to being grouped with South African Schwartzel.
"It was strange the way it (his round) happened," he said. "We had a good three-ball and Charl had four birdies to start his game straight away today and I had one par and four birdies to follow him.
"I think I was brought along by his momentum. He was playing well and he's a world-class player, as you know, I just got into the game and went along with his birdies. So both of us fed off each other a little bit and it's nice to see both of us at the top of the leaderboard."
Northern Irish pair Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke had much improved rounds yesterday with the former six shots off the leader on a total of 138 after carding a 68 to go with his 70 from day one.
Clarke recovered well from his disappointing opening day 74 with four birdies and an eagle seeing him home in 67. Gary Murphy will be around for the weekend after he shot a 71 for a 143 tally to just make the cut.
Henrik Stenson, the world number eight and highest ranked player at the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event, shot a 71 for a three-under overall total.
England's Justin Rose just made the cut with his two-over-par round leaving him one under for the tournament.
The only major name to miss the cut was defending champion James Kingston after he ended with a disappointing 74 to go with a 72 on the opening day. He missed the cut by three shots.
Following players made the cut (143)
(Brit unless stated, Irish in bold)
132 - Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 65.
134 - Damien McGrane 70 64, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 65, Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 67, Lee Westwood 66 68.
135 - Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 64, Gareth Maybin 66 69, David Horsey 70 65
136 Len Mattiace (USA) 70 66, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 64 72, Keith Horne (Rsa) 66 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 67, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 66, Michael Hoey 70 66, Ross McGowan 66 70.
137 - Martin Wiegele (Aut) 69 68, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 71, Chris Wood 68 69, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 66 71, Carlos Del moral (Spa) 69 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 68 138 - Rory McIlroy 70 68, John Mellor 70 68, Richie Ramsay 66 72, Ake Nilsson (Rsa) 66 72, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 68.
139 - Richard Finch 69 70, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 65 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 72 67.
140 - Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 71 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 72, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 69 71, Jake Roos (Rsa) 70 70, Simon Dyson 67 73, David Frost (Rsa) 68 72, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 70, Lee Slattery 68 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 71, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 71 69, Callum Mccaulay 71 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 70, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 69 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 67 73.
141 - Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 69, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 70 71, Darren Clarke 74 67, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 74, Gary Lockerbie 72 69, Adrian Ford (Rsa) 70 71, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 70 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 71.
142 - Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 70, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 70 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 70, Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 68, Marco Ruiz (Par) 69 73, David Drysdale 74 68, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 73 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 68 74.
143 - Steve Basson (Rsa) 72 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 74 69, Alan McLean 71 72, Andrew Coltart 71 72, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 71 72, Albert Pistorius (Rsa) 68 75, Wil Besseling (Ned) 75 68, Justin Rose 69 74, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 74 69, Gary Murphy 72 71, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 72 71, Ariel Canete (Arg) 73 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 69 74.
