Schwartzel Goes Low and is Tied For The Lead in Joburg
- By Dorian Netolicky on January 15, 2011 19:50 GMT
Charl Schwartzel lived up to yesterday’s billing from the books and shot a near perfect 61 to get into a three-way tie for the lead heading to the weekend at the Joburg Open.
Schwartzel made 5 birdies on each side and didn’t drop a single shot in his second round. He now sits at 13-under for the tournament in a tie with fellow South African Garth Mulroy and England’s Jamie Elson.
It’s now clear, unlike yesterday, that Schwartzel is the easy pick for tournament favourite with 36 holes left to play. He ate up the West Course at the Royal Johannesburg Golf Club and with little to no preeminent talent on his heels he should easily stay in the victory conversation after tomorrow’s third round.
The bookmakers now have pretty much put almost all their eggs in Schwartzel’s basket sending him to round three at (5-4).
Thomas Aiken, the third round favourite, is now second with the books and had another solid day shooting a 5-under 66.
It could have been a lot lower if not for some erratic iron play as some wayward approaches led two bogies and a double bogey in round two.
It seems he may be cracking under the pressure of being a ‘premier’ player in this week’s field although a 66 is nothing to sneeze at.
To state the obvious, he’ll have to clean things up on the weekend if he’s going to want to keep pace with Schwartzel.
Co-leader Garth Mulroy’s best finish so far in the South African swing is a 48th at the South African Open leading one to believe his play thus far could be an aberration.
However, with the watered down fields that have littered the European Tour stops in South Africa, the bookies have to hang their hats on somebody other their top two picks.
The third of the leading trio, Jamie Elson, spent last season on Europe’s Challenge Tour and has never faced off against the likes of Schwartzel meaning a push for the lead against a world class player could be too much to ask.
However, the young tend to not know what they don’t know and he has won on the Challenge Tour.
