– Marcus Kinhult (-11) is the provisional leader of the Alfred Dunhill Championship after the morning session of play on the second day. The Swede, who won a European Tour event for the first and only time five years ago, has signed a 68 and is avoiding big numbers on a course where any mistake or slip-up is punished with double, triple, and even quadruple bogeys.
– But, with all due respect to Kinhult, the news of the morning at Leopard Creek was made by the King of Malelane, Charl Schwartzel (-7) who, after a slow start with a round of 71 on Thursday, has woken up today and seems ready to shine his crown (seeking his fifth victory in this tournament) and assert his undeniable intimidating power in these beautiful surroundings. Today he started on the 10th hole and completed a fabulous first half of the course, with a seven-under-par in this stretch and two eagles to his name (holes 13 and 18). Then, it’s true, he came face to face with his real nemesis on this course, the 7th hole, par 3, where Schwartzel, unbelievably, has made bogeys throughout his career. Today, in fact, he scored a double bogey that marred the scorecard and slowed his spectacular charge.
Nevertheless, he has positioned himself reasonably well for the final assault heading into the weekend. It would be reckless not to consider him the main candidate for victory.
– Nacho Elvira (-5) has once again made many birdies: this time there were six. Not as many as yesterday, when he made ten, but more than enough to have the Spaniard challenging Kinhult for the top spot, without a doubt. The problem is that, just like Thursday, he stumbled badly on a couple of occasions (double bogeys on holes 15 and 3) and had to settle for a score of 71. We mentioned that Kinhult is avoiding high numbers, quite the opposite of what is happening to the Cantabrian. However, he continues to hit powerful shots left and right and is making a lot of putts on the greens. He has plenty of room to fine-tune and position himself for the final victory.
– The other Elvira, Manu, can also make a splash over the weekend. Today he reached a total of -3 with a well-crafted final score of 69, with only one bogey on the card, just like Adrián Otaegui (-6): only one blemish and a great round of 67 to place his newly unveiled Emirati flag in the hot zone. Jorge Campillo (-1) also made the cut, although the Extremaduran lost positions today with a round of 72. The one who missed out is Pablo Larrazábal (+7), who ruined his chances with a quadruple bogey on the dreaded 7th hole, finishing his round on the 9th hole.
