Otto hangs on to narrow lead

A trying day at the East London Golf Club came to an end with South Africa’s Hennie Otto clinging on to the slender one-shot lead he held beginning the second round of the Mercedes Benz South African Open.

Otto ended the day at 135, nine-under par, to lead fellow South African Roger Wessels and England’s Greg Owen, both at 136, eight-under par, going into the business end of the tournament over the next two days.

It was a brilliant display of maturity from a man who has recently taken stock of his game and life and decided to re-dedicate himself to golf after his much-publicised club breaking endeavours at the Wild Coast exactly a fortnight ago.

What a difference two weeks can make, and for Otto it culminated in the lead of the Sunshine’s Tour’s oldest and most prestigious event. “I’m still struggling, but my head is slowly getting back on my shoulders,” Otto said. “I’ve led before going into the weekend and I feel comfortable at the SA Open, my record here has been good.

“I’m still not totally comfortable over the ball, but it’s coming back slowly and hopefully it just gets a bit better.

Otto started on the ninth (this course has loops of eight and 10) and posted a 38, which included a horrendous double bogey on the par-five 15th and bogies at 12 and 17.

After such a poor start it would have been easy to lose it completely, but Otto has certainly worked on the mental aspect of his game. “I was a bit too relaxed and after the poor start I just told myself that holes one through four are all down-wind and very makeable birdie holes.”

“The wind hasn’t really blown here at East London, this is just a breeze for this place and it could get more difficult.”

It didn’t go quite according to plan because of a bogey on the first. But then the attitude and the swing clicked into high gear and he birdied holes two, three, four, six and seven to come home in 32.

It was an exceptionally long day in blustery conditions as some 54 players had to return early to complete their first rounds after lightning on the first day delayed play for a total of just over two and a half hours.

Wessels was one of the men who had to come back to complete just two holes. He went birdie, par to finish with a 67. He then posted a composed 69 to lead for most of the day until Otto put his nose in front.

Owen shared the lead at nine-under coming down the stretch only to bogey the last for a solid three-under 69. The amiable Englishman has yet to win on Tour, with a third place in Brazil his best finish to date.

Dane Thomas Bjorn showed a welcome return to form with a five-under 67 to leave him at five-under 139 for the tournament, while South Africa’s Retief Goosen joined him on five-under following a 68. Nashua Nedtel Cellular Masters champion, Mark McNulty will also be there on the weekend with a closing tally of 4-under-par 140.

Ulsterman Darren Clarke, one of the major drawcards of the event, will not play on the weekend after a dismal six-over 78 to add to his 77 in the first round for an aggregate score of 11-over par 155.

South African amateur Jaco van Zyl was the surprise of the day, carding a five-under 67 to move to two-under for the tournament.

The halfway cut was made at one-over 145 with 72 players participating on the weekend.

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