Defending champion Robin Williams said an outstanding start and playing in the same threeball as a charging Daniel van Tonder were pivotal to his 65 on Friday, which gave him the lead after the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.
Williams backed up his excellent 64 on the first day with a seven-under-par round that lifted him to 15-under-par at the halfway stage of the R2-million event, with Van Tonder firing a fabulous nine-under 63 on Friday to sit just one stroke behind on 14-under-par.
Altin van der Merwe (67) and Jovan Rebula (66) are a further two strokes behind, while first-round leader Kyle Barker is on nine-under, six behind, after a level-par 72 on Friday.
Williams made three birdies in the first four holes and reached the turn in five-under, but as most of the field found, the back nine was more testing and he came home in two-under, including a bogey at the par-three 12th.
Van Tonder was the exception as he birdied the 10th, 11th and 14th holes and then eagled the 477-metre, par-five 17th to come home in 31.
“I had a good start and that set the tone for the whole round. I just had to keep the momentum going,” Williams said.
“I’m very happy. You’re always pleased when you put yourself in position to win. I’ve gone above my expectations already. It’s my first title defence ever and there was quite a lot of pressure.
“But my favourite part of today was playing with Daniel. We fed off each other. He played seriously good golf today and I’m looking forward to us pushing each other, bringing out the best in each other, over the weekend. It was great fun with him today and there was a stretch where he just could not stop getting birdies and I was just trying to keep up with him,” Williams said.
Because of the exciting promise he has shown and his success in the last year, Williams has had to mature quickly under the weight of attention. Especially after his sensational fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
“It’s been tough handling all the external stuff, but I’m kinda learning how to handle it day in, day out. When I put my South African SIM card back in my phone, the number of messages waiting for me after the Dunhill Links was hectic.
“But I’m going to have to get used to it and learn to enjoy it. I still want to get my story out there as much as possible,” the 23-year-old Williams said.
Van der Merwe is 27 years old and only turned pro this year but he showed why his amateur record was so good as he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes by collecting four birdies in the next five holes.
Rebula’s 66 included just one bogey and an eagle on the par-five 11th.
Scores
129 - Robin Williams 64 65
130 - Daniel van Tonder 67 63
132 - Altin van der Merwe 65 67, Jovan Rebula 66 66
134 - Keenan Davidse 66 68, Pieter Moolman 67 67
135 - Jack Hawksby 70 65, Kyle Barker 63 72
136 - Kyle De Beer 66 70, Werner Deyzel 64 72, Jean Hugo 65 71
137 - Yurav Premlall 68 69, Michael Hollick 67 70
138 - Austin Bautista 70 68, Kyle McClatchie 73 65, Robson Chinhoi 72 66, Heinrich Bruiners 69 69, Jordan Burnand 69 69
139 - Jake Redman 69 70, LB Boshoff 70 69, Luke Brown 70 69, Neil Schietekat 70 69, CJ du Plessis 71 68, Joe Long 73 66, Brandon Gildenhuys 65 74, Jaco Van Zyl 70 69
140 - Jonathan Broomhead 73 67, Fredrik From 70 70, Nikhil Rama 66 74, Craig Ross 70 70, Christiaan Burke 68 72, Tyran Snyders 69 71, David Amm 72 68
141 - Lyle Rowe 70 71, Jacques Blaauw 73 68, Otto Van Buynder 71 70, Wynand Dingle 68 73, Herman Loubser 67 74, Samuel Simpson 70 71, Graham van der Merwe 72 69, Kirby Coe-Kirkham 73 68
142 - Adam Breen 72 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 74 68, Estiaan Conradie 74 68, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 70, Keegan Mclachlan 66 76, Ethan Smith 72 70, Rourke van der Spuy 74 68, Anthony Michael 72 70, Rhys West 71 71, Madalitso Muthiya 68 74, Ockie Strydom 72 70, Jason Roets 73 69
143 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 73, Andre De Decker 68 75, Franklin Manchest 72 71, Stuart Krog 71 72, Christiaan Basson 69 74, Matthew Spacey 69 74, Dylan Naidoo 71 72, Combrinck Smit 72 71, JJ Senekal 75 68, Stephen Ferreira 71 72, Malcolm Mitchell 72 71, Hennie Otto 69 74, Ruan Groenewald 70 73
Missed the cut
144 - Gerhard Pepler 71 73, Ruan Conradie 74 70, Dylan Mostert 74 70, Brandon Meads 75 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 72 72, Keagan Thomas 74 70, Lyle Pedro 76 68, Therion Nel 75 69, Ruan de Smidt 74 70, Luke Jerling 69 75, Stals Swart 75 69, Stefan Wears-Taylor 71 73
145 - Shaahid Mahmed 71 74, Keelan van Wyk 73 72, Rupert Kaminski 73 72, Conner Mackenzie 69 76, Kayle Wykes 75 70, DK Kim 70 75, Toto Thimba Jnr 73 72, Jaco Prinsloo 73 72, Sean Bradley 73 72
146 - James Pennington 73 73, MJ Viljoen 69 77, Christopher Long 75 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 73, Ulrich van den Berg 76 70, Jacques P de Villiers 73 73, Albert Venter 72 74, Gary Kemp 73 73
147 - James Mack 73 74, Merrick Bremner 79 68, Jared Harvey 77 70, Promise Sombreiro 73 74, Damian da Silva 71 76, Tumelo Molloyi 76 71, Brandon Pieters 79 68, Jacob Oakley 73 74, Haydn Porteous 74 73, Gregory Mckay 72 75, Danie Van Niekerk 74 73, Slenda Sithebe 72 75, Ryan Van der Klis 69 78
148 - Jordan Duminy 76 72, Leon Vorster 78 70, Sean Cronje 78 70, Allister de Kock 74 74, Jabulane Mabilane 73 75, Simon du Plooy 71 77, Dayne Moore 72 76, Callum Mowat 75 73, Travis Ladner 73 75
149 - Nick Cunningham 73 76, Christian Kriek 76 73
150 - Hayden Griffiths 77 73, Doug McGuigan 75 75, Pierre Pellegrin 69 81, Ricky Hendler 79 71, Jastice Mashego 76 74, Gerard du Plooy 75 75
151 - Oliver Bekker 76 75, Quintin Wilsnach 77 74, Alex Haindl 74 77, Ronald Rugumayo 72 79
152 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 74 78, Tristin Galant 74 78, Andrew Williamson 76 76, Keith Horne 76 76
153 - Sentanio Minnie 79 74, Steven Le Roux 78 75, Terence Boardman 76 77, Bradford Vaughan 75 78, Khanya Mkhize 75 78, Vaughn van Deventer 76 77, Thabang Simon 76 77
154 - Umar Davids 76 78, Regan Steyn 78 76
155 - Shaydon Johnson 81 74, Pride Sembo 85 70, Mark Maart 73 82, Siyanda Mwandla 78 77
156 - Jared Burnard 77 79
157 - Basil Wright Jr 75 82, Richard Kruger 78 79, Thabiso Ngcobo 75 82
RTD - Irvin Mazibuko 77 RTD, Ryan Tipping 71 RTD
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