Andrea Pavan commented in the final of the Road to Mallorca that any of the 45 players present in the final of the Challenge Tour had more than enough level to compete in the DP World Tour. 20 ascended (well, 21, with Alex Fitzpatrick entering through another route) and three of them are in the leading positions at the halfway point of the South African Open. Jesper Svensson (-9) leads the table at the Blair Atholl Golf in Johannesburg and in his wake appear Casey Jarvis and Matteo Manassero, second with -8 alongside Joakim Lagergren. The top three shone last season in the second division of the European Circuit. The Swede finished fifth in the ranking and won the B-NL Challenge Trophy, the South African finished second in the ranking and won a tournament in Austria and the Italian, back in the elite, was ninth and prevailed in Denmark and Italy. There is a wealth of talent in the Challenge, of course, and in fact Frederic Lacroix (-7), thirteenth in the Road to Mallorca, is fifth in the South African Open.
Svensson, playing partner of Manu Elvira, had a fabulous start with four birdies in five holes and seven in total, to which he added two mistakes for a card of five under on the day. Jarvis didn’t create as many opportunities on this second day but he did hook five successes and three mistakes to continue in the fight. Manassero, who has only made one mistake in 36 holes, copied the -4 from the start to put himself in a position to win in Johannesburg and revive old laurels in the DP World Tour. Lagergren did everything in the first nine holes (three birdies and two bogeys) before stringing pars left and right to finish with one under on the day.
Strangely, there are fewer local golfers in the VIP wagon of the South African Open, although five are comfortably installed in the top ten: the aforementioned Jarvis, Ryan van Velzen (-7 after starring in the round of the day with seven under), Louis de Jager (-6), Hennie du Plessis (-6) and Oliver Bekker (-6). The French are also lurking at the top of the table with Lacroix as figurehead, as well as David Ravetto (-7) and Romain Langasque (-6), the latter tied with Matti Schmid (watch out for the German).
The Spaniards have a dislike for this tournament, or vice versa, and once again it was demonstrated, with only two pieces of the Armada playing the weekend and with hardly any chances of victory. Álex del Rey and Santi Tarrio finished at par, just the limit to move forward, although each did it in their own way. The Madrid player struggled with four bogeys and a single birdie in the first two thirds of the round, but a saving success with five to go kept him alive. The Galician, on the other hand, started at a frenetic pace, with six birdies and a bogey, but he hit a slump on the 13th and scored three bogeys before the final joy on the 18th that allowed him to pass the cut.
Sebas García Rodríguez (+1) fought to continue but his poor start to the tournament weighed on him. In the second round, he signed three birdies in nine holes that opened the door to hope after Thursday’s +4, failed on the par 5 of the fifth and the birdie of the was not enough to stay in the contest. Manu Elvira (+3), a weekend classic for his consistency last year in the Challenge, faltered from the start on the 10th (bogey). He added two more mistakes and with the rope around his neck needed a spectacular end of round to avoid being dropped, but he did not achieve it. Iván Cantero (+10) was far from the target.
By the way, Andrea Pavan also made the cut, as did Francesco Laporta, Darren Fichardt, Wilco Nienaber, Marco Penge, Ugo Coussaud and Will Enefer, members of the Challenge last year, made the cut.
