JOHANNESBURG – England’s Graeme Storm fired a scintillating 63 on Friday to move into the sole lead after the rain-interrupted second round of the SA Open at Glendower on Johannesburg’s East Rand.
The 38-year-old journeyman turned in a blemish-free card after making nine birdies in an early-morning round. He shot a 69 in his first round to enjoy the lead going into the weekend with a score of 12-under-par.
With heavy rain and lightning approaching, the hooter sounded around 5pm, potentially bringing an end to the day’s play.
“It’s obviously great to shoot a score like that,” said Storm. “I had a putt on the last... it was a long putt to equal my best ever score. I actually shot 62 at Jo’burg, so it would have been nice to equal that, but I’ll take 63.”
He said the putter was the hottest club in his bag. “The putter was hot; it was hot yesterday and it was hot today. Yesterday I didn’t capitalise as much as I did today. I could have birdied a couple more of the par-fives... I only birdied one of them today. So to shoot 63 and only having birdied one of the par-fives around here... you know, I’ve played pretty good.”
Two shots behind Storm are Peter Uilhein of the USA, and the South Africa duo of Jbé Kruger and joint first-round leader Trevor Fisher Jnr.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, the hot favourite to win this week, could easily have shared the lead with Storm or been in sole second place after a scintillating middle part of his round, but he bogey the 17th and 18th holes to be three shots back on 9-under.
Fisher Jnr shot a 68 to go with his 66 of the first round to be very much in contention over the weekend. “It wasn’t as good as the first round, but I’m happy with the result. It’s exciting going into the weekend, but I’ll start at level-par again on Saturday.”
McIlroy’s 68 saw him finish in a big group one behind the leader. It was a mixed bag from the World No 2, who had a bogey, birdie and a double bogey in his first four holes to slip back on the leaderboard.
However, he bounced back in style with an eagle and six birdies from hole eight to 15, but then dropped shots on his last two holes.
“I hurt something in my back, so I’ll get some treatment now and hopefully it’ll be okay,” said McIlroy. “I was happy, however, with the middle part of my round.”
Defending champion Brandon Stone enjoyed a far better day on Friday, shooting a 5-under 67 after recording a 74 on Thursday. At 3-under he was tied 35th when the hooter sounded for bad weather around 5pm.
Some high-profile players including Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, George Coetzee, Andy Sullivan and Retief Goosen were expected to miss the cut at 1-under.