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According to the Sunshine Tour website, his second round of five-under-par 66 put him in third place behind Dane Thorbjorn Olesen who was on nine-under after a second-round 68, and morning leader Pelle Edberg of Sweden who was on eight-under, which left him in a good position to challenge for the title in the first tournament sanctioned by all three of the Sunshine Tour, The European Tour and the Asian Tour.
“The first four holes are really tough,” said Aiken. “It’s a matter of just getting through them and then trying to make a score on the last five. I managed to get through them pretty well with some good up-and-downs which really kept the momentum going.”
He shared third spot at the halfway mark with countryman Dean Burmester and with young Matthew Fitzpatrick of England.
Aiken started his second round on the 10th, and made just a single birdie on what is regarded by the players as the easier of the two nines. “I hit nine greens in regulation and gave myself a good chance at every hole, but only made one,” he said.
He managed to make a birdie immediately after the turn, and then kept his card bogey-free while picking up three more birdies in his final four holes. And that flourish of a finish came despite difficulties on his penultimate hole, the eighth. “It was 235 yards and I hit a three-iron and I missed the green. I had a really awkward stance and it just popped up. I ended up chipping again and managed to chip that one in,” he said.
He signed off with a flourish, his approach to the ninth landing just beyond the hole and spinning back to within two feet - and he rattled in the subsequent birdie putt. “The putter behaved the last nine holes today, but other than that. I putted pretty averagely,” he said. “I hope it continues to behave over the weekend.”
Next best of the South Africans after Aiken and Burmester was George Coetzee, who made six birdies and two bogeys on his way to a four-under 67, and a halfway score of five-under-par. Thereafter came Oliver Bekker, who had to grit his way through a stomach upset to a level-par second round. He also was on five-under.
For Aiken, the final two rounds will involve keeping errors off the card. “You’ve got to play good golf and I think this week is more about not making too many mistakes rather than making a lot of birdies,” he said. “So I’ll try and keep mistakes off the card and I hope I can keep doing that for the weekend.”
Scores:
133 - Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 65 68
134 - Pelle Edberg (SWE) 68 66
135 - Thomas Aiken (RSA) 69 66, Dean Burmester (RSA) 67 68, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 68 67
137 - Masahiro Kawamura (JPN) 68 69, Rahil Gangjee (IND) 67 70, George Coetzee (RSA) 70 67, Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 65 72, Carlos Pigem (ESP) 65 72, Oliver Bekker (RSA) 66 71, John Parry (ENG) 67 70, Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 66 71
138 - Andrew McArthur (SCO) 68 70, Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP) 72 66, Daniel Chopra (SWE) 70 68, Scott Hend (AUS) 72 66, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 69 69, Colin Nel (RSA) 69 69
139 - Kalem Richardson (AUS) 73 66, Steve Lewton (ENG) 70 69, Mikael Lundberg (SWE) 68 71, Keith Horne (RSA) 70 69, Sam Brazel (AUS) 69 70, Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 69 70, Paul Peterson (USA) 69 70, Tjaart van der Walt (RSA) 73 66
140 - Justin Walters (RSA) 67 73, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 71 69, Nathan Holman (AUS) 67 73, Richard T Lee (CAN) 72 68, Ben Evans (ENG) 70 70, Borja Virto Astudillo (ESP) 68 72, Jordi Garcia Pinto (ESP) 71 69, Jason Palmer (ENG) 71 69
141 - Victor Riu (FRA) 71 70, Estanislao Goya (ARG) 70 71, Kevin Phelan (IRL) 68 73, Chris Paisley (ENG) 72 69, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 72 69, Chien Yao Hung (TPE) 70 71, Panuphol Pittayarat (THA) 67 74, Cyril Bouniol (FRA) 71 70, Daniel Woltman (USA) 67 74, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 67 74, Jake Roos (RSA) 70 71, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 72 69, Merrick Bremner (RSA) 71 70, Thanyakon Khrongpha (THA) 69 72, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 70 71, Javier Colomo (ESP) 72 69, Bernd Ritthammer (GER) 71 70
142 - Adam Groom (AUS) 71 71, Eduardo de la Riva (ESP) 71 71, Jean Hugo (RSA) 73 69, John Hahn (USA) 70 72, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 68 74, Unho Park (AUS) 72 70, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 71 71, Ross McGowan (ENG) 70 72, Scott Barr (AUS) 69 73, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 73 69
143 - Divan van den Heever (RSA) 73 70, Pedro Oriol (ESP) 70 73, Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 68 75, Chinnarat Phadungsil (THA) 72 71,Rattanon Wannasrichan (THA) 74 69, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 69 74, Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND) 72 71, Chris Lloyd (ENG) 73 70, Mithun Perera (SRI) 72 71, Danie van Tonder (RSA) 73 70, Jason Scrivener (AUS) 71 72, Sattaya Supupramai (THA) 70 73
Missed the cut:
144 - Bryce Easton (RSA) 74 70, Lionel Weber (FRA) 75 69, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 72 72, Wallie Coetsee (RSA) 71 73, Rashid Khan (IND) 73 71, Siddikur Rahman (BAN) 71 73, Jake Higginbottom (AUS) 74 70, Ricardo Santos (POR) 74 70, Neil Schietekat (RSA) 70 74
145 - Jacques Blaauw (RSA) 74 71, Ulrich van den Berg (RSA) 73 72, Titch Moore (RSA) 75 70, Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 72 73, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 74, Shiv Kapur (IND) 71 74
146 - Rourke van der Spuy (RSA) 75 71, Paul Maddy (ENG) 78 68, Soren Hansen (DEN) 72 74, Jbe' Kruger (RSA) 72 74, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 74 72, Shaun Norris (RSA) 74 72
147 - Tyrone Ryan (RSA) 74 73, Andrew Marshall (ENG) 73 74, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA) 78 69, Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 73 74, Nick Dougherty (ENG) 75 72, Haydn Porteous (RSA) 76 71, Christiaan Basson (RSA) 71 76
148 - Max Orrin (ENG) 72 76, Berry Henson (USA) 72 76, Johan Edfors (SWE) 74 74, Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 76 72, Eddie Taylor (RSA) 73 75, Tianlang Guan (CHN) (AMA) 77 71, Marcus Both (AUS) 72 76
149 - Toto Thimba (Jnr) 75 74, Justin Harding (RSA) 73 76, Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 75 74, Derick Petersen (RSA) 76 73, Johan Carlsson (SWE) 71 78, Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 75 74
150 - Arjun Atwal (IND) 73 77, Louis de Jager (RSA) 74 76, Lasse Jensen (DEN) 73 77
151 - Dwayne Basson (RSA) 72 79, Ludovic Bax (AMA) (MUS) 72 79, Ben Stow (ENG) 79 72, Prom Meesawat (THA) 75 76, Hennie Otto (RSA) 80 71
152 - Arnond Vongvanij (THA) 81 71, Roberto Lupini (RSA) 73 79
153 - Andrew Curlewis (RSA) 82 71, Thomas Levet (FRA) 72 81, Lyle Rowe (RSA) 77 76
154 - Martin Rominger (SUI) 76 78
156 - Namchok Tantipokhakul (THA) 76 80
160 - Stuart Smith (BOT) 81 79
WD - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 77 WD
