– Eugenio Chacarra (-15) remains the leader of the Alfred Dunhill Championship after the second round. The Madrid native responded to Jayden Schaper‘s (-13) morning 64 with a splendidly well-crafted 66, as today was not his best day from the tee, nor with the irons and wedges in hand. Scoring six under, on any course, without your best form (mind you: it wasn’t a disaster either) says a lot of good things about you.
– It suggests, for example, that sooner or later you had to pull a rabbit out of the hat. For the Spaniard, this happened mainly at the start and finish of the round, holes 1 and 18. On these two par 5s, Eugenio didn’t find the fairway, but ended up signing an eagle (hole 1) and leaving the ball on the lip of the cup, also for eagle (hole 18). Just like that.
– It doesn’t seem like a bad idea to revel in these two actions. On hole 1, he was forced to hit a long, low iron from under the trees through the only window he had, and he did it with such precision and composure that the ball, rolling and rolling, reached the green, lined up the correct line (at this point a bit of good luck is also needed) and even touched the hole and flagstick, flirting with an albatross, stopping about two metres from the cup. On 18, after missing left, he also managed from the rough to leave the ball gently on the green, although his putt from about eight metres fell short by just three centimetres.
– Chacarra keeps the South African legion at bay, who will undoubtedly keep pressing throughout the weekend from all flanks. He will start tomorrow with a two-shot lead over Schaper (-13), but behind him are players like Branden Grace (-12), JC Ritchie (-11), Oliver Bekker (-11), Michael Hollick (-11), Christiaan Burke (-10), Daniel van Tonder (-10), Louis Oosthuizen (-9), Thriston Lawrence (-9), Dylan Fritelli (-9), Dean Burmester (-8), Aldrich Potgieter (-8), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-8) or Shaun Norris (-8)… These are the South Africans coming in droves, although some have already lost quite a bit of ground to Chacarra. From the rest of the world, besides the Spaniard, the Englishman John Parry (-12) stands out, and we could also add the Italian Pavan (-9), the Frenchman Rozner (-9), and the Swiss Girrbach (-9).
– Eugenio pumped his fist on the green of the 14th hole after sinking a mid-range putt to save par, and rightly so: he was hitting good shots, sure, but he was also getting into small troubles here and there. Earlier, on the 12th hole, he had also sunk a good birdie putt, thus quickly and decisively responding to the worst moment of the day, the two bogeys he had strung together on holes 10 and 11. His putter, indeed, was on fire today, and those putts on holes 12 and 14, like another long birdie on 3, were also rabbits that the magician pulled out of the hat one by one, but at a good pace…
– His performance on the greens has been one of the keys to that splendid 66, clearly. Another could well be the warrior attitude he usually shows on the course, in addition to the intelligence and accuracy shown on the par 5s of the Royal Johannesburg Golf Club, where he has accumulated a ten-under total in the first two rounds: the least he has done on each of the long holes of the course has been birdie…
– In truth, it doesn’t seem that any other Spanish player is in contention for the win this week. Nacho Elvira (-5, today a great round of 68) and Ángel Ayora (-5) are next on the leaderboard and are already ten shots off the lead.
– Rocco Repetto (-4) and Sebas García (-3) had excellent finishes in their respective rounds, with three birdies each on the final holes to make a cut that was finally set at -3. Also playing this weekend are Jorge Campillo (-4), Pablo Larrazábal (-3), Alejandro del Rey (-3), and Manu Elvira (-3). Missing out are Quim Vidal (-1), Ángel Hidalgo (PAR), and Iván Cantero (+3).
