South Africa’s Van Tonder leads at Kenya Savannah Classic

South Africa’s Daniel van Tonder pulled away from the rest of the field with a brave seven under par 64 score for a two rounds total of 13 under par 129 as the Kenya Savannah Classic entered its halfway stage at the par 71 Karen Country Club course Wednesday.

It was an excellent day for the South African, who despite bogeying the ninth hole, and the last one (18th), still managed to put together a total of three birdies and three eagles to lead the field of 154 players in this newly introduced event, which comes days after the Magical Kenya Open.

His first birdie of the day came at the fifth hole, which was immediately followed by an eagle three at the sixth.

He resumed his birdie hunt with two quick ones at the seventh and eighth with the first bogey of the day coming at the ninth on his way to the back nine. This gave him a two shots lead before he bogeyed the 18th.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s David Drysdale was sandwiched between three South Africans, with a two rounds score of 12 under par 130, though he shared the second place with Magical Kenya Open champion Justin Harding, who added a 66 in the second round to also close the day on 12 under par 130.

The other South African, Darren Fichardt, tied with Japan’s Masihiro Kawamura on 11 under par 131 after a 64 in the second.

Draysdale birdied the second, eagled the sixth, then followed with birdies on the seventh and ninth, in addition to another eagle at the 11th and the last birdie at the 12th,.

However, he three putted the 16th to drop a shot which would have carried him to the top.

The third South African, Darren Fichardt, birdied the fifth and sixth, eagled the 11th, then birdied the 12th and 17th with a bogey at the 14th.

Japanese Masahiro Kawamura dropped two early shots at the third and fourth having started with a birdie at the first hole,.

He made a tremendous recovery with birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth and the back nine’s 10th, 11th, 12th, 17th and 18th for his brilliant 64 to tie for the fourth place.

Just like the first round and the first two rounds of the Magical Kenya Open, the scores were very high, no wonder the cut this time was four under, and one had to roll in not less than seven or six birdies to survive in the tournament, where only two past winners Sebastian Soderberg of Sweden and England’s Aaron Rai made it to Thursday's third round.
 
Leaderboard; 

Daniel van Tonder (SA) 65, 64= 129
David Drysdale(Sco) 65, 65= 130
Justin Harding(SA) 64, 66= 130
Masahiro Kawamura(Jap) 67, 64= 131
Darren Fichardt (SA) 65, 66= 131
Darius van Driel (Ned) 70, 62= 132
Romain Langasque (Fra) 67, 65- 132