Gavin Moynihan and Robin Dawson went low on day two to transform their fortunes at the Cape Town Open in South Africa.
After the pair missed the cut last week at the Limpopo Championship, both looked determined to ensure they wouldn’t meet a similar fate in Cape Town on Friday.
Moynihan recovered from a two-over par opening effort with a bogey-free five-under par round of 67 on day two on the Royal Cape course where he took care of the four par-5s in birdie fours.
Tramore’s Dawson had a much greater task on his hands after ending day one at six-over par but he went a dozen shots better, also around the Royal Cape Course on Friday, finding eight birdies in a round of 66 that saw him sneak into the weekend on the number at minus-one.
Niall Kearney (76/72) at plus-four and Michael Hoey (79/73) at plus-eight missed the required mark.
Daniel van Tonder maintained his one-shot advantage at the midway stage after carding a five under par round of 67 at Royal Cape Golf Club.
The South African held a narrow lead over Englishman Toby Tree after his opening six-under par round of 66 at King David Mowbray Golf Club and despite playing the arguably more difficult co-host venue on day two, continued his blistering form to reach 11 under par as he reeled off five birdies in a bogey-free second round.
He sits one-shot clear of Aron Zemmer in second place on ten under par, as the Italian made the most of the calmer conditions to post the low round of the day, a seven under par round of 65.
Van Tonder has a talented chasing pack breathing down his neck as he goes in search of his first European Challenge Tour title but is confident his game is up to the test.
“We made it easy out there today,” he said. “I recovered from the missed shots and holed some good putts, so it seems simple when you play that way.
“It is a lot calmer out there today. Yesterday was a bit of a mission with the wind, whereas today it was only a one club wind for me, so it wasn’t as bad. You still need to hit the right shots and strike the ball well if you are going to play well.
“Both of the venues play fairly similar, but the greens here roll a bit faster. I managed to get a good feel for them and adjusted well today.
“I’m just going to forget about my position going into tomorrow so that you play against the course rather than other people. At the end of the day, if you beat the course then you beat the people.”
Mitch Waite heads into the weekend in third position after recording six birdies and an eagle at Royal Cape Golf Club in a six under par round of 66.
Meanwhile, Tree is making the most of his decision to play in South Africa rather than on the European Tour this week. He is one shot further back in a tie for fourth place on eight under par alongside last week’s champion JC Ritchie, who is bidding for this third consecutive Sunshine Tour victory this week.
With the cut falling at minus-one, 68 players made it through to contest the title over the weekend at Royal Cape Golf Club. The third round gets under way at 6:48am local time, with van Tonder and Zimmer continuing their title bid at 12:00pm.
Full scoring HERE
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