Liam Nolan and Gary Hurley are safely through to the weekend at the Jonsson Workwear Open at Durban Country Club, but it was a day to forget for Max Kennedy, Conor Purcell and Liam Grehan.
Nolan, courtesy of a five-under-par 67, was the only one of the five Irishmen in the field to shoot a round in the 60s on day two of this, the last of four co-sanctioned events between the HotelPlanner and Sunshine Tours, and the Galway native climbed into a share of 28th place at -5.
Starting his second round on the 10th after a level-par 72 on Thursday, the former Walker Cup player made two early birdies to start the climb, but dropped a shot on the 18th and turned at one-under for the day and the week.
A birdie on the par-5 third kickstarted his drive, and he followed with another on the par-3 fourth before adding two more on six and eight to secure a weekend tee time, making it four made cuts from four starts in 2026.
Hurley, who triple bogeyed the par-4 ninth to close out round one in disheartening fashion despite his two-under-par scoreline, birdied the third but then carded a double bogey-seven on the eighth and turned at +1 for the round.
A birdie on 12 was his only deviation from par over the first eight holes on the back, and he found himself on the 18th tee needing birdie to make the cut. He duly obliged, and after sitting out the entirety of 2025 through injury, has now made the cut in all four of his HotelPlanner Tour starts this year.
Max Kennedy was among the early leaders on Thursday as he looked to build on a T2 finish at last week’s NTT DATA Pro-Am, but a late bogey, combined with a poor start that saw him cover the opening five in +4 on day two left him battling the cutline rather than challenging the top of the leaderboard.
Two birdies and two bogeys over the following five left him with lots of work to do over the closing eight, but back-to-back birdies on two and three and another on eight got him to the final tee projected to make the cut on the number. A bogey on the last undid all the good work, however, and he missed out along with Liam Grehan who had battled hard to get himself back to the right side of the cutline but suffered a horror finish, and Conor Purcell who struggled to a five-over 77.
At the head of affairs, Christofer Blomstrand fired the low-round-of-the-week to move into a share of the lead alongside Spain’s Santiago Tarrio.
Swede Blomstrand, one of the late starters on Friday, signed for an 11-under 61 to move into a tie at the top on -13, one-stroke clear of Englishman Alfie Plant, who holds solo second.
Starting on the first, Blomstrand quickly found his stride with birdies on the second and third before making eagle on the par four sixth. A birdie on the eighth saw the 34-year-old make the turn in 31 strokes before he picked up three more shots from holes 10 to 14.
And after closing out his round with three consecutive birdies, Blomstrand was delighted with his stunning effort.
“Day’s like this almost never happen, everything felt great,” he said.
“I hit so many solid shots, holed putts but also had some more chances and missed a couple of short ones. It’s been a fantastic day and I’m still quite shocked to be honest.
“I was five under through nine and was thinking about 59 for a little bit. I am super happy; it was a fantastic day. I was focussing on every shot because it’s quite a tough course, but I feel like I was in the zone the whole day.
“It’s going to be nice being in the final group tomorrow, I’ve been there a couple of times before and tomorrow’s a new day.”
Spaniard Tarrio, among the early starters, signed for an eight under par bogey-free second round of 64 to set the pace before being joined by Blomstrand in a share at the top.
Tarrio, starting on the first, carded five front nine birdies to turn in just 31 one strokes in calm early morning conditions on South Africa’s east coast.
The 35-year-old, who opened with a 67 on Thursday, would pick up another shot on the 10th before adding back-to-back gains on 14 and 15 to complete an impressive second day’s work.
“I’ve played really well the past two days,” he said.
“Yesterday I made a couple of mistakes with a double bogey and a bogey. Today I hit lots of good shots and made some putts, so, overall, it was positive.
“It was super hot out there with no breeze on the front nine. The breeze got up on the back nine which cooled me down but definitely made the course more challenging.”
South African duo Oliver Bekker and Keenan Davidse and Spain’s Pablo Ereno, who held the first round lead, share fourth on 11-under, one stroke clear of Luke Brown, Jean Hugo and Louis Albertse from the Rainbow Nation and Welshman Rhys Enoch.
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