He got aggressive with his putter in the second round of the Africa Open and it paid dividends as defending champion Louis Oosthuizen raced to 11-under-par 62 and the early lead at a windless East London Golf Club.
He reached the halfway mark of the opening event on the 2012 Sunshine Tour schedule – co-sanctioned by the European Tour – in 15-under-par 131, two strokes clear of Tjaart van der Walt.
“I was aggressive on the putter. I went about six foot past a few times and I had to make those for par,” said Oosthuizen, “and the last one I made on the eighth would have been eight or 10 foot past, but it hit the middle of the cup.
“But I was aggressive because yesterday I left a few putts short and you’re not going to hit it that far past on these greens,” he added.
His round was faultless as he made nine birdies and an eagle, and, while his round was not trumped by anyone in the morning field, Van der Walt came close with a stunning burst after the turn.
He made birdie on the first after teeing off on the ninth, but then he holed his tee shot with a six-iron on the 193-yard second. He followed that with an eagle three on the third, and, when he birdied the closing eighth, he was two shots behind the brilliant Oosthuizen.
Van der Walt’s nine-under for the second round was matched by European Tour rookie Matthew Baldwin, who moved to 10-under through halfway.
Jaco van Zyl managed an eight-under despite a bogey on his card and was also on 10-under, while Scotland’s Alastair Forsythe and Tommy Fleetwood of England each carded seven-under 66 to find themselves at 11—under, four shots off Oosthuizen’s pace.
Oosthuizen’s eagle came on the 308-yard (282-metre) sixth: “It was a lot of concentration on the tee shot because I hit the three-wood in the bush yesterday. It was a three-wood again off the tee, and I didn’t want to take any other club because I wanted to show myself that I can do it, because if I’d taken something else then the next day I would probably have a three-wood again,” he said.
“So I hit it on the green at the back. I saw the line of the putt but I wasn’t sure so I asked my caddie and he saw exactly the same line. I hit a perfect putt and it went straight in the middle of the hole. But it was a very long putt – it was probably about 60 feet.
“I putted brilliantly,” he said.
