Friday, January 11, 2008

DRYSDALE AND GALLACHER LEADING SCOTS
AT HALFWAY STAGE OF JOBURG OPEN


A strong finish from joint overnight leader Mark Murless allowed the South African to stay top of the leaderboard after day two at the Joburg Open today.
A birdie and eagle on his last two holes helped the 31-year-old to a 68 which lifted him to a halfway total of nine-under-par 133 - a shot ahead of Spain's Pablo Larrazabal, who also shot 68. It was another rainy day in Johannesburg but the constant drizzle failed to prevent Darren Clarke from bouncing back after a poor first round. The Ulsterman finished with a 65 to move to four under par 138.
There were several other scores of 65 with South African Warren Abery setting the benchmark early on after overnight rain had delayed the start by an hour.
Compatriots Chris Williams, Dawie Van der Walt and Branden Grace also managed six-under-par rounds, along with England's Robert Rock and Austrian Florian Praegant.
Abery's effort, added to his opening 70, kept him in tied third place along with Charl Coetzee and co-overnight leader Tyrone Ferreira.
But Murless would have been breathing a sigh of relief after his dose of double fortune before the close.
Heading into the final two holes, he was level par for the round before he turned on the magic.
"I hit a crack of a drive (on 18) but left myself with an impossible yardage," explained Murless. "I don't have a club in my bag for that yardage - I had 230 metres (250 yards) to the flag.
"My three iron is never going to get me there and my three wood is just too much club. I ended up hitting a soft three wood and put the best swing I could on the shot and it worked out beautifully."
David Drysdale and Stephen Gallacher are the leading Scots on two-under-par 140 in the combined scoreboard - the East and West courses were used for the first two rounds. David has shot 67 and 73, Stephen a pair of 70s.
Other Scots to survive the halfway cut were Craig Lee (74-68) and Andrew McArthur (73-69) on 142.
But compatriots Peter Whiteford, Andrew Oldcorn, Alan McLean and Euan Little have been eliminated.

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FULL JOBURG OPEN SCOREBOARD

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