Fisher leads South African Open by five strokes

By Ken Borland

GEORGE, South Africa (Reuters) – Briton Ross Fisher fired a
three-under-par 70 to lead by five strokes after the second
round of the South African Open on Friday.

Defending champion Tim Clark, the joint overnight leader
with Fisher, crumbled to a five-over-par 78 as the average
score for the day on the Links at Fancourt swelled to over 77.

Sweden’s Henrik Nystroem (77), Irishman Michael Hoey (84)
and South Africans Jaco van Zyl (82), Andrew McLardy (78),
Warrick Druian (78) and Anton Haig (79) were other first-round
front runners whose hopes of moving up the leaderboard were
dashed.

But world number four Retief Goosen shot a three-under-par
70 for an aggregate of three-under-par 143 and second place,
while Ernie Els also went round in 70 for a share of ninth
place on level-par overall.

Fisher was four-under-par for his round after seven holes,
but found trouble after the turn as the demanding links-style
course bit back.

“I really wanted to press on because I was getting used to
the course. You can shoot a low score here, but you can’t let
up. It takes 18 really solid holes,” Fisher told reporters.

“It’s typical links golf and you have to try to be patient
and pitch short of the flags.

“I wouldn’t say my game suited links golf, so it’s a great
challenge for me. But I’m getting used to controlling my ball
flight and you need such imagination around the greens with all
the humps, mounds and swales,” Fisher said.

The 25-year-old bogeyed the par-three 11th hole and dropped
two shots at the par-four 12th, battling to control the ball on
the firm greens.

“I thought I hit a good shot into 11, it pitched pin-high
but went over the green. But that’s links golf and there was
nothing I could do,” he explained.

Fisher’s length and consistency off the tee led to birdies
on his last two holes to leave him in a commanding position.

South African Charl Schwartzel and his compatriots Leonard
Loxton and James Kingston were in contention on two-under-par.

Clark three-putted the first two holes for bogeys and
double-bogeyed the par-four 10th in a miserable round that
included just one birdie, on the par-five 16th.