England’s Jamie Elson carded a second round five-under 67 to total nine-under and take a one-shot lead in the Joburg City Masters at Country Club Johannesburg on Wednesday.
He came into the second round tied at four-under with six other players, and two strokes back from the leading Jacquin Hess. He opened the round with a pair of pars and then made three birdies and a bogey on his front nine. The Englishman made a bogey, two birdies and an eagle on his homeward stretch. That display was enough for him to climb up the leaderboard on moving day.
‘I played really solidly the past two days,’ Elson (pictured above) said, ‘and I’m really confident with my iron-game. I got some really good yardages today and managed to hit some pretty close. It’s just a question of getting it in on the green, you know.’
And, coming from the UK and from a three-week stretch in Thailand, Elson had more than just the strong field assembled in Johannesburg to contend with. ‘The main thing is just working out the altitude,’ he said of what he needs to work on going forward.
‘You know, coming from the UK, the ball is flying, I would say, five percent further in the wintertime here. I have been to Jo’burg before in the summertime, but it was about 10 percent further. So I have got a little conversion thing in my bag that’s been helping me out and it’s been working very well.’
Also shooting 67 were the duo of Jaco Prinsloo and Maritz Wessels. Prinsloo moved into second position on eight-under, while Wessels took third at seven-under for the tournament. Francois Coetzee, Jason Smith and Botswana’s Stuart Smith share fourth on six under-par.
Six players, including veteran Omar Sandys, last week’s winner at Ebotse Breyten Meyer and Sean Bradley, are tied at five-under, and share seventh spot.
Morne Buys, overnight leaders Jacquin Hess and Sweden’s Henric Sturehed are all tied at four-under-par.
Scores:
135 – Jamie Elson 68 67
136 – Jaco Prinsloo 69 67
137 – Maritz Wessels 70 67
138 – Francois Coetzee 68 70, Jason Smith 72 66, Stuart Smith 69 69
139 – Jeff Inglis 68 71, Matthew Carvell 69 70, Breyten Meyer 69 70, Sean Bradley 67 72, Omar Sandys 68 71, Dayne Moore 69 70
140 – Morne Buys 73 67, Jacquin Hess 66 74, Henric Sturehed 68 72
141 – Combrinck Smit 69 72, Craig Kieswetter 70 71, Russel Franz 73 68, Fredrik From 70 71, Antonio Costa 72 69, Luke Jerling 73 68
142 – Max Smith 73 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 71, Anton Haig 73 69, Marco de Beer 72 70, Allister de Kock 71 71
143 – Craig Hinton 70 73, Andrew van der Knaap 71 72, Ryan Cairns 74 69, Jacques P de Villiers 75 68, Teagan Moore 72 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 68 75, Brett Liddle 67 76, Danie Van Niekerk 70 73, Pieter Kruger 72 71
144 – Allan Versfeld 73 71, Quintin Wilsnach 76 68, Wynand Dingle 75 69, Matthew Spacey 73 71, Irvin Mazibuko 76 68
145 – Aubrey Beckley 73 72, Stefan Engell Andersen 72 73, Chris Cannon 73 72, Dean O’Riley 73 72, Eddy Holland 68 77
146 – Antonio Rosado 75 71, Tyler Hogarty 73 73, Jeff Hopkins 71 75, Duane Keun 75 71, Drikus van der Walt 70 76, Arthur Horne 76 70, Gert Myburgh 72 74, Sam Hobday 75 71, PH McIntyre 74 72