Saturday 12 November 2016 16:13, UK
Alex Noren stormed into a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Nedbank Golf Challenge after a historic second day at the Gary Player Country Club.
Fabrizio Zanotti made the first ace in the 35-year history of the tournament, and that achievement was soon followed by the event's first albatross courtesy of Lasse Jensen, but it was the red-hot Noren who ended the round in the outright lead.
Noren, who became the first three-time winner on the European Tour this season at last month's British Masters, fired a 67 to reach eight under par, while home favourite Louis Oosthuizen carded a best-of-the-week 66 to earn a share of second with compatriots George Coetzee, Jaco Van Zyl, Chris Wood and Zanotti.
Henrik Stenson slipped to one under as he returned an erratic 74, but the Race to Dubai leader retained his six-shot advantage over nearest challenger Danny Willett after the Englishman was also two over for the day and five over for the tournament.
The second round finished in darkness following an earlier delay of an hour and 42 minutes due to the threat of lightning, and Noren came out firing on the resumption as he made five birdies on the back nine to romp home in 32.
The in-form Swede picked up three shots in four holes immediately after the turn, although he did blot his card with a bogey at the 12th, and further gains at 15 and 17 lifted him to the top of the field.
Noren took over the clubhouse lead from Oosthuizen, who made the biggest move of the day after producing the first bogey-free round of the week to vault 19 places up the leaderboard.
The former Open champion birdied the fourth and sixth and then reeled off three in a row around the turn and, although the putts dried up down the stretch, he managed to get one to drop for another birdie at the 17th to move to six under par.
Coetzee made his fourth birdie of the round at the closing hole to cap a second straight 69, while Zanotti provided the early fireworks when he followed birdies at the opening two holes with his perfect blow at the fourth - holing his seven-iron at the 210-yard par-three to register the 40th ace of the European Tour season.
The Paraguayan looked certain to be in the lead by the close of play when he birdied 10 and 14 to get to eight under, but he dropped shots at each of the final two holes to sign for a 68.
Wood, like Oosthuizen, kept a bogey off his card and picked up three birdies in five holes to close out a front-nine 33 before he parred every hole of the inward half in a resolute 69, while Van Zyl made it a five-way tie for second after mixing four birdies with a lone bogey.
Alejandro Canizares birdied the final two holes to card a 68 to earn solo seventh on five under, but Ross Fisher dropped to four under after a poor finish in the fading light.
The Englishman moved to within two of the lead after making three straight birdies from the eighth, and he responded to a bogey at 12 with a good putt for a three at 17 before he pulled his second into the hazard at the last and ran up a double-bogey six for a 72.
Fisher is alongside Matthew Southgate, who also birdied eight, nine and 10 and picked up two more at the 16th and 18th to return a 68, while Branden Grace moved into the top 10 with a five-birdie 69.
Ryder Cup star Andy Sullivan is a further stroke adrift as he also fired a 69, and Jensen produced the shot of the day shortly after dropping shots at the 10th and 12th holes.
The young Dane struck a mighty three-iron from 240 yards out at the long 14th, and his ball took a kindly bounce in the fringe and rolled into the cup for the third albatross on the European Tour this season.
New on-air time: Due to the threat of bad weather on Saturday, live coverage of the third round will now start at 7am on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
