Daniel Greene shot a solid 68 in the Royal Swazi Sun Open on Thursday, to finish the second-round seven points adrift of the leaders.
“It's not far off - just a few birdies and you're right there. On these greens and with such a short course you can make that in three holes. There are still two days to go, but with this format you could be leading after nine holes,” he said.
Greene's second round was worth 11 points on the modified stableford scoring system of the tournament, putting him within striking range of Desvonde Botes, who held the 36-hole lead on 29
points.
“I've been working very hard in Joburg and it's nice to see it paying off,” said Greene. “I've been hitting a lot of balls, made a bit of a swing change and it seems to be working. So I'll just keep at it.
“Not much went in for me on the front nine, but then I went on a bit of a run on the back nine. We just need the run to carry on.”
Greene is one of the longer hitters on Tour, and the short course and playing format suit his game. “It's nice to hit gap wedges, sand wedges into most of the greens. It's not a long course, so you just have to hit the driver well and if a couple of putts go in then you'll be right on top,” he said.
He was optimistic about his chances, and added: “I'm feeling good - I've been playing well over the last couple of weeks and I feel like I'm due for a good finish - so we'll see what happens.”
Botes had a solid day on the course, making nine birdies without a dropped shot. “I played really nicely today - I hit the ball very well, made a lot of fairways and I think I missed one green the whole day. The greens are a little tricky and bouncy, but I putted well today and I'm happy with my round,” he said.
Just two points shy of Botes, Jake Roos and Christiaan Basson shared second, while Dean Burmester wrapped things up a further two off the pace on 25 points. – Sapa