Sergio leads by one at halfway in

Nedbank Challenge

Round Two Report

Sergio Garcia will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player after a dramatic second day in Sun City.

The Spaniard entered round two of the seventh Rolex Series event of the season with a four-shot lead and extended that to five in the early stages before he was reeled in by local favourite Louis Oosthuizen.

Garcia signed for a 71 to move to nine under but fellow Major Champion Oosthuizen came home in 32 to sign for a 67 and emerge as the nearest challenger at Gary Player Country Club.

Finn Mikko Korhonen was then at six under, two shots clear of home favourite Dylan Frittelli, English pair Aaron Rai and Lee Westwood, and Ireland's Shane Lowry.

Both Garcia and Oosthuizen are looking for their first Rolex Series victories while Garcia could make it back-to-back wins after triumphing at the Andalucía Valderrama Masters hosted by his own foundation last time out.

Oosthuizen has not finished lower than 14th in this event since it joined the European Tour International Schedule in 2013 and the 2010 Open Champion is in the hunt for win number nine.

In the quest to stay in the hunt for the Race to Dubai next week, Li Haotong and Lucas Bjerregaard both need a win but were six and ten shots back respectively, while Rory McIlroy - who needs a top-two finish - was at one under.

Defending champion Branden Grace, fellow South African Darren Fichardt, Belgian Thomas Detry, Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Italian Andrea Pavan and England's Matt Wallace were alongside Li at three under.

Player Quotes

Sergio Garcia: “The course is tough. It's not every day you're going to go out there and shoot 64, it doesn't work like that. I feel like I played quite well.

“Three three-putts, that's never ideal but on these greens it can happen. They are so quick and some of the pins are so tucked to the edges that it's difficult to hit it close to them. Other than that, I felt like I played well throughout the whole day.

“I wish I could see the future and tell you exactly how the weekend is going to go, but I'm trying to play consistent like I played the first two days, give myself a lot of birdie looks and you know, realise that the course is tough. It's not that easy to go out there. Just because I shot eight under on the first day doesn't mean you can do it every day. It's a difficult golf course.

“I stayed positive, I stayed calm. I wanted to shoot something below 70 and I felt like I had a chance of doing it, unfortunately it didn't work out but we're still in the lead. It's good.”

Louis Oosthuizen: “Felt great. I hit a nice putt on one and hit a really good chip on two and got my round going. So that's a start you dream of and it's just trying to keep that momentum going is always tough around this track.

“I made a really good par save on 12 and 13, and then 14, hit a great up-and-down where I was sort of in trouble over the green and hit a good iron shot into 15. I sort of kept the momentum going after that eagle and I'm very pleased with that after the mishap on eight.

“You can have all the course knowledge in the world here and it's not going to make a difference. The wind is swirling all over the place. It's tough tee shots, whether you've played here many times before or the first time here. It's a good golf course, especially off the tee box.

“I'm very excited. I've got quite a few friends and family here and obviously the home crowd behind me. It should be fun playing tomorrow.”

Mikko Korhonen: “We guessed the wind wrong a couple times there because it's coming from everywhere. Not much different. Of course playing in the last group is always a little bit more exciting. But yeah, it's a good day.

“Very excited. Just have to keep guessing the wind right and make good decisions.”

Round Two Scores
par 144 (2x72)
135 S Garcia (Spn) 64 71
136 L Oosthuizen (SAf) 69 67
138 M Korhonen (Finland) 68 70
140 L Westwood (Eng) 71 69, S Lowry (Ire) 71 69, D Frittelli (SAf) 73 67, A Rai (Eng) 72 68,
141 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 73, T Detry (Belgium) 75 66, A Pavan (Ita) 71 70, M Wallace (Eng) 69 72, B Grace (SAf) 70 71, H Li (China) 71 70, D Fichardt (SAf) 74 67
142 A Johnston (Eng) 73 69, A Wu (China) 69 73, J Guerrier (Fra) 74 68, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 71 71,
143 R Fox (NZ) 70 73, R Paratore (Ita) 72 71, M Schwab (Austria) 72 71, A Sullivan (Eng) 69 74, R McIlroy (NIre) 72 71, R Fisher (Eng) 71 72, D Burmester (SAf) 72 71
144 N Colsaerts (Belgium) 75 69, B Hebert (Fra) 69 75, P Larrazábal (Spn) 74 70
145 M Kaymer (Ger) 76 69, B Stone (RSA) 74 71, G Green (Malaysia) 75 70, O Fisher (Eng) 75 70, J Scrivener (Australia) 69 76, L Herbert (Australia) 76 69, S Horsfield (Eng) 73 72, L Bjerregaard (Den) 75 70,
146 P Harrington (Ire) 73 73, A Otaegui (Spn) 74 72, C Schwartzel (SAf) 68 78, E Van Rooyen (SAf) 77 69, J Lagergren (Swe) 72 74, M Kieffer (Ger) 75 71, T Lewis (Eng) 75 71, R Sterne (SAf) 77 69,
147 T Immelman (SAf) 74 73, J Luiten (Ned) 72 75, N Elvira (Spn) 74 73, C Paisley (Eng) 72 75, L Slattery (Eng) 74 73, W Ormsby (Aus) 73 74, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 71 76,
148 J Smith (Eng) 79 69, P Waring (Eng) 72 76, M Kinhult (Swe) 74 74, R Rock (Eng) 75 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 72 76,
149 D Willett (Eng) 78 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 74, T Bjørn (Den) 76 73, P Dunne (Irl) 78 71, J Campillo (Esp) 71 78, S Sharma (Ind) 74 75,
150 A Björk (Swe) 75 75, J Dantorp (Swe) 77 73,
151 M Pavon (Fra) 78 73, A Levy (Fra) 81 70, A Chesters (Eng) 78 73,
152 G Coetzee (SAf) 73 79, S Gallacher (Sco) 77 75,
153 H Tanihara (Jpn) 74 79, T Aiken (RSA) 76 77, M Southgate (Eng) 80 73,