Rowan Lester was forced to dig deep to ensure a weekend tee time at the Sunshine Tour’s Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player at Killarney Country Club in Johannesburg.
After opening with a three-under 67, the Hermitage man found the going a little tougher on day two but managed to make the turn at level-par after trading two birdies and two bogeys.
Back-to-back bogeys to start the back nine left him in danger, and another bogey on the 14th dropped him outside the provisional cut mark.
He got his head back above water with a birdie on the par-5 15th, but another dropped shot on 17 left him needing to birdie the par-4 closing hole to make it through on the Sunshine Tour’s resumption following the Christmas break.
He did exactly that, hitting the fairway, the green and rolling in the putt, ending a streak of two missed cuts that included a start at the co-sanctioned AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open along with the DP World Tour.
Liam Grehan had a week to forget, shooting 73, 76 for a nine-over tally, but Lester is just three shots outside of the top 20 and will be hoping that he can make the most of an 8am tee time with freshly rolled greens to putt on.
South African Haydn Porteous – a two-time DP World Tour winner – is in pole position at the halfway mark after back-to-back 64s moved him to -12.
He enjoys a three-stroke lead over England’s Joe Long, with two South Africans and two Zimbabweans sharing third place on -8, one stroke further back.
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