Charl Schwartzel goes low

Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel has built an impressive five-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Malelane, South Africa.

He’s looking to win what will be his fourth Alfred Dunhill Championship title, and with opening rounds of 66 and 67, he’s going to take some beating.

The 31-year-old South African, the world number 50, is now 11 under par going into moving day. He’s not dropped a single shot on the back nine so far this week, and he’s made seven birdies in total on the final nine.

His career average score for the Leopard’s Creek course is 69.08, so he’s looking in good shape to beat that. He would become the eighth player to win the same European Tour event four times should he go on to win.

Englishman Eddie Pepperell recovered from an opening 74 with seven birdies and an eagle for a 65 and he shares sixth place, but is still six strokes off the lead.  He was eight under par in nine holes today and shot the low round of the day to move 88 places up the leaderboard.

Matt Ford, who was joint third overnight, fell back to 14th after a very disappointing 74.

Louis Oosthuizen had made 17 straight cuts before this event, but he shot a second round of 76 and will miss the weekend by two shots.