The ‘scoring’ guys aren’t doing very well this week at the South African Open. Nothing unusual whenever the DP World Tour moves to these latitudes. They had to correct Ángel Ayora‘s score a good while after he finished his round. Where it said -2, it was actually -1. A minor and insignificant error, as either way, he wasn’t making the cut. More significant, however, is the error in the score recording for Iván Cantero. The DP World Tour online shows him at seven under with holes 16, 17, and 18 left to complete his second round. Well, it’s wrong, but in a good way.
In reality, Cantero is at eight under par. The error lies at hole 7, a tricky par 4 where you can’t tee off with the driver. Iván missed the tee shot with the 5-iron to the right, into the rough. They didn’t have a shot to the green because of a tree, so they could only get it back onto the fairway and make some yards. They left an approach to the green of about 30 metres. It was quite a difficult shot, but the Asturian did it very well and left it four metres away. He didn’t make the putt. One, two, three, four, and five. It’s a bogey and not the double bogey currently showing on his card on the European Tour leaderboard.
As it stands, Cantero’s round has been a rollercoaster. He started brilliantly, with three birdies in the first four holes. From there, problems. Some bad shots, like the aforementioned tee shot and two bogeys, on 5 and 7. Also, he didn’t make birdie on 8 with an iron from the fairway, which practically feels like a bogey.
Once again, he recovered and found his rhythm. Three birdies fell on 10, 13, and 14, and he is well placed in the first cut of rough after teeing off on 16. He will return tomorrow at half-past seven in the morning with a 136-metre shot to the flag. Right now, with a total of -8, four under for the day, Cantero is in 16th place, just one shot from the top 10 and three from the top 3. In other words, he’s in the battle for everything.
Good situation also for Rafa Cabrera Bello (-6). The Canary Islander is two under for the day after thirteen holes. He has made three birdies and a solitary bogey. He is on the green of hole 14, with a two-metre putt for birdie. He could have taken it, but he preferred to leave it for tomorrow, as the greens are going to be much better. Therefore, he has a good opportunity to get to seven under with four more holes ahead to finish the second round.
As for the other Spaniards playing in the afternoon, Alejandro del Rey (-2) is fighting to make the cut. He is four under for the day after eleven holes. His start was outstanding, with four consecutive birdies and five in the first six holes. He will still need to gain on the course to play the weekend. Initially, it looks like the cut will be at four under par. That should be the target. In this regard, Joel Moscatel (+3) will need an extraordinary attack tomorrow. Specifically, the goal is to make seven under in ten holes.
As for the leaders, everything remains the same as at the end of the morning session. Shaun Norris (-14) is the leader, with a one-shot advantage over Dylan Naidoo (-13) and three over Branden Grace, Andrea Pavan, Darren Fichardt, and Sam Bairstow, who still has ten holes left to finish the second round. In the afternoon, also keep an eye on Haotong Li (-10), who also still has the entire second round to complete.
