Martin on victory trail again

Martin: two-shot advantage

Second-round leaderboard:
(SA unless stated)
P Martin (Spa) -11
A Hansen (Den) -9
A Canizares (Spa) -8
E Molinari (Ita) -7
L Oosthuizen -7

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Spaniard Pablo Martin is in position to claim back-to-back victories after opening a two-shot lead at the halfway point of the South African Open.

The 23-year-old from Malaga won the first event of the 2010 Race to Dubai when he emerged triumphant at the Alfred Dunhill Championship last weekend.

That win ensured Martin became the first man in history to win a European Tour event as both an amateur and professional.

On Friday Martin carded a 68 to lift himself to 11-under-par, two clear of his closest challenger, Anders Hansen of Denmark.

The Dane followed his opening 66 with a steady 69 to maintain his challenge and in turn sit one clear of another Spaniard, Alejandro Canizares (67) in third.

In-form Italian Edoardo Molinari shares fourth with home player Louis Oosthuizen on seven-under, while overnight leader Martin Erlandsson dropped back into a four-man group at six-under after a disappointing 74.

That is now some way off the pace being set by Martin who continued to reproduce the kind of form that saw him prevail at Leopard Creek last week.

Starting on the back nine, Martin birdied the tenth, 12th and 16th before running up a double-bogey six on the 17th.

Response

However, he responded in fine style with a birdie on the 18th to reach the turn in 34 and, after another bogey on the first, rolled in a hat-trick of birdies from the third.

Hansen dotted his scorecard with six birdies, but a costly double-bogey six at the first and a bogey at the eighth meant he was unable to reel in Martin.

He remains on course to wrap up the Sunshine Tour's Order of Merit title, though, and would become the first player from the northern hemisphere to achieve the feat.

His only realistic challenger for the crown, Charl Schwartzel, produced a fine 68 on Friday which should ensure he survives the cut after a miserable opening 77, but he will now need a miraculous chain of events to overhaul Hansen.

The lowest round of the day came from Spain's Rafael Cabrera Bello who fired a sparkling bogey-free 65.

Meanwhile, the shot of the day belonged to Scotland's Callum Macaulay who notched a hole-in-one on the 15th for a round of 69 that left him in a share of 10th place on five-under-par.