Kristoffer Reitan retained his lead at the halfway stage of the 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge, but Tom McKibbin dropped 23 places on the leaderboard and now trails by 10.
McKibbin, making his final appearance of the year, began the day in a share of fifth place after a bogey-free 68 on day one, but could get nothing going in round two, reaching the turn at one-over for the day after eight pars and a bogey.
A birdie on 10 was the first red figure on his scorecard, but a double bogey on the par-5 14th after being forced to chip out sideways and subsequently taking a penalty drop put him further behind the 8-ball.
He closed out with a birdie on 17 and another bogey on 18, and dropped back to two-under and into a tie for 28th place.
Reitan followed his spectacular opening 63 with a three-under-par 69 to reach -12under, one shot clear of Adrien Saddier who eagled the second to kick-start a round of 67.
Saddier’s fellow Frenchman Julien Guerrier shares third place on nine-under with Christiaan Bezuidenhout – the leading South African, two shots ahead of Garrick Higgo and Daniel van Tonder.
Reitan picked up where he had left off on Thursday with an opening birdie and added two more in succession with a chip-in from a bunker at the fifth and a 32-foot putt at the sixth.
But he soon came under pressure at the summit as Saddier launched a stunning pin-high approach from a fairway bunker at the par-five second and then birdied the third, sixth and ninth.
After gains for both players at the tenth, a chip-in for Saddier at the 14th took him level at the top.
The pair were four clear of the field at that stage and though they each dropped a couple of shots on the closing stretch, Reitan birdied the last to keep himself on top.
Guerrier, who tied for sixth in this tournament last year, birdied the second and though he gave that shot back at the fifth, he made five more birdies to move alongside Bezuidenhout, who fired a 65 containing eight birdies and a single bogey.
Higgo and Van Tonder are tied with South Korea’s Junghwan Lee and England’s Andy Sullivan on seven under with another South African, Jayden Schaper, a shot further back.
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