South African pair Matt Saulez and Malcolm Mitchell had a feeling of deja vu when they walked off the course after the second round of the 46th Copa Juan Carlos Tailhade in Argentina on Friday.
It’s been a trying two days for the KwaZulu-Natal duo, who had to wait out a two-and-half-hour rain delay on day one and navigate a gale force wind on day two.
Saulez, from Durban Country Club, racked up three birdies for a second successive round of 73 and Kloof’s Mitchell mixed two birdies with five bogeys to double up on 74s at the Los Lagartos Country Club.
Saulez improved two spots to a tie for 20th on four over, while Mitchell on six over climbed from joint 42nd to 33rd. Local player Federico Shin leads the pack on three under par after rounds of 70 and 69.
‘It was quite tough out there, so we are getting our money’s worth in experience,’ said Saulez.
‘The greens firmed up substantially in the wind and they were tricky. We both struggled to hole putts, but tomorrow is another day and we will come out firing again.’
The South African team also climbed one spot to fourth in the International Team Competition, which is played concurrently with the 72 individual stroke play championship.
Canada replaced Brazil at the top in the 22nd edition after Josh Whalen and Joey Savoie combined for successive rounds of 142 to top the leaderboard at even-par 284.
Brazil slipped to second, one stroke off the pace, and Argentina is third on four over.
South Africa edged out Colombia and Spain for fourth on a 36-hole total of 10 over 294.
Picture of Mitchell courtesy of GMMG AAG.
TEAM SCORES ROUND TWO
284 – Canada 142 142
285 – Brazil 139 146
288 – Argentina 141 147
294 – South Africa 147 147
296 – Spain 145 151; Colombia 148 148
301 – Uruguay 150 151; Chile 149 152
303 – Ecuador 149 154
304 – Peru 155 149; Paraguay 148 156
307 – Venezuela 149 158
309 – Panama 153 156