– Kristoffer Reitan (-12) maintains the lead in the Nedbank Golf Challenge after the second round. The Norwegian has done exceptionally well with a final score of 69 strokes in a round where his game was somewhat erratic, especially with the irons in hand. He started by leaving a birdie on hole 1, as if continuing his Thursday performance. However, he immediately began to miss shots, almost always with balls going almost straight to the left. As they say: golf and its damn mysteries.
– The birdie on hole 5 helped him a lot, holing out from the sand when the ball seemed to be running much faster than expected, as well as the long putt he made on hole 6, from about ten metres. Finally, he still managed a great birdie chance on the 18th after a very generous bounce, which he converted. Luck may have been on his side today, but then you have to be there, weathering the storm and saving some tricky situations to get the job done. Anyway, the pitcher was going to the well so often that bogeys also fell on holes 15 and 16, which somehow leave the tournament more open.
– Now, as almost always, there are at least two interpretations. The first: the Norwegian will need to improve a lot over the weekend, compared to what he showed today, if he aspires to victory. And the second: if this second round was his bad day and he resolved it this way… We probably already have the winner.
– Adrien Saddier (-11), on the other hand, was playing five-star golf, the same he displayed for much of last season and with which he comfortably secured his PGA Tour card, as well as reaching the highest point of his career in the world ranking (he reached number 73, now he is 77), firmly established in the top 100. His score was seven under in fourteen holes, but the Frenchman also faltered right at the end, with bogeys on holes 16 and 18, leaving the door open on a course where traditionally the alternatives are abrupt and sudden. Just ask Marcus Armitage (-5), who was looking up the leaderboard and finished with this sequence: triple bogey on the 14th, birdie on the 15th, bogey on the 16th, bogey on the 17th, and birdie on the 18th… What a mix.
– Ángel Ayora (-5) has regained much of the ground he lost in the first round, thanks to an excellent card of 66 strokes, six under for the day, the second-best score of the round, only behind the 65 of Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-9), a guy who already won the South African Open on this same course with a final advantage of five strokes and who, therefore, must be cited right now as the main candidate, especially if Reitan doesn’t fix the compass.
– We were with Ayora. There are 36 holes ahead and at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, that’s a big deal. This means that the young Andalusian might still be able to really get close to the leaders and give himself a chance in the final holes on Sunday, although his margin for manoeuvre is what it is, very limited. Anyway, it’s refreshing to see the Spaniard back in the positions of privilege after his notable, hard-fought, and persistent end to the 2025 season. Ayora is not very sharp from the tee, but today he got into fewer problems and hit many more greens in regulation. Over the weekend, without a doubt, he will need a hot putter to reduce the deficit, an area of the game in which, without being a disaster, he hasn’t particularly shone during the first two rounds.
– Meanwhile, Alejandro del Rey (-4) is avoiding big numbers (only four bogeys in 36 holes), with more or less juggling and flashes of brilliance, and strings together two rounds of 70 strokes, Jorge Campillo (-3) closed his round today with two final bogeys that have set him back too much, although there are still many goals to achieve and points to add with a great tournament finish. In fact, this maxim serves for Ayora himself, as well as for Del Rey, Campillo, Pablo Larrazábal (-2), Eugenio Chacarra (-1), and even Ángel Hidalgo (PAR) and Nacho Elvira (+2). There is still much to do in Sun City with 36 holes ahead, to set the start of the 2026 season on the right (or better) track.
