Coetsee Takes 36-Hole Lead in Joburg Open


Wallie Coetsee followed up his opening 66 on the East Course at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington with a 65 on the West Course to reach 12-under 131 and take the halfway lead in the European Tour's Joburg Open.

On Friday, the 42-year-old carded five birdies, an eagle on the par-5 15th hole and a bogey - only his second of the tournament - for a one-stroke edge over fellow South Africans Garth Mulroy (68) and Tjaart van der Walt (69), and England's Simon Dyson (67).

Coetsee enjoyed the solitude of West, the easier of the two courses that are each played the first two days. East will be used exclusively over the weekend.

"There were no cameras on me the whole day, so it was quite easy out there," he told the European Tour's website. "I made one stupid bogey out there on the seventh, but I enjoyed the round a lot. There were a few sucker pins out there, so I went for middle green. I didn't attack too much and just stayed calm, which paid off.

"This is a marathon, not a race," added Coetsee, who is hoping to become the sixth straight South African to win the tournament. He broke a 17-year victory drought when he won on the Sunshine Tour last year.

"You have to pull the horse back a bit, you can't run too fast. We'll let the horse loose on Sunday on the back nine. For now it's about making solid pars and keeping the battery at 100 percent; keep it going and you'll be ready when you need to be.

"Leading means a lot to myself, but tomorrow we start from level-par again. I'll just give it my best. I'm looking forward to this weekend and seeing what happens."

Dyson is in position for his seventh win on the European Tour but the first since the 2011 KLM Open. "I didn't play as good as yesterday, but I scored pretty well," he said. "I made four birdies on the front nine and I birdied the par-5s - if you get your drives away then they're all pretty good chances.

"There was some luck. I got fortunate on 10. I pushed my drive down there and managed to get a shot, hit to about three feet and knocked that in, which was a bonus. It was a good day and I was very happy with the score.

"It's been a while since I've been up there. I've been playing alright, but at the beginning of the season I changed my irons and they were costing me dearly - I didn't have a clue how far they were going. This is the first week I've put my old set back in the bag and all of a sudden I'm hitting it pin-high again; that makes a heck of a difference."

Trailing Coetsee by two is England's Anthony Wall (66) and Sweden's Niclas Fasth (67), while just three behind are South African Thomas Aiken (67), Welshman Stuart Manley (67), and Swedes Kristoffer Broberg (67) and Alex Noren (63).

Noren's 8-under-par score on West was the low round of the day. The 32-year-old carded four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back.

Defending champion George Coetzee has posted rounds of 66 and 69 and heads into the weekend tied for 11th at 8-under 135 with nine others.

The 36-hole cut was set at 4-under 139. After opening with a 62 on West, first-round leader Nic Henning had his difficulties on East, posting a 6-over 78 en route to a two-round total of 3-under 140, one stroke below the cut line.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015014/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y.