An eagle three at the 18th helped Mark Murless to a one-shot lead after day two of the Joburg Open.
Clarke back in contention after second-round 65
An eagle three at the 18th made the difference for South Africa's Mark Murless on day two of the Joburg Open, his subsequent 68 moving him onto a nine-under-par total and also handing him a one-shot lead.
Having just picked up a birdie at the 17th, Murless then hit his 230-yard three-wood to within five feet of the pin and sank his putt before explaining to reporters: "I hit a crack of a drive (on 18) but left myself with an impossible yardage.
"I don't have a club in my bag for that yardage - I had 230 metres (250 yards) to the flag.
"My three iron is never going to get me there and my three wood is just too much club. I ended up hitting a soft three wood and put the best swing I could on the shot and it worked out beautifully."
The 31-year-old, who finished fourth last year, added: "Last year I also got into the good position in this tournament but didn't pull it off.
"I just need to try and keep it simple and play this golf course the way it was designed to be played."
Playing behind him on Royal Johannesburg's East course was 24-year-old Pablo Larrazabal, the Spaniard missing the six-foot birdie putt he needed at the last to tie Murless at the top of the leaderboard.
Larrazabal - making his full-time European Tour debut after earning his card at Q-School late last year - therefore had to be satisfied with a par, his own three-under 68 moving him into second place.
Nevertheless, he arguably came up with the day's highlight: an eagle-two at the par-four ninth hole - Larrzabal holing his approach from the fairway.
Prominent
The tournament, the first to be held on the European Tour in 2008, sees a number of South Africans taking prominent positions on the leaderboard, with Warren Abery (65), Charl Coetzee (67) and rookie Tyrone Ferreira (70) - the latter making his very first outing as a professional - lying joint third on seven under.
Also very much in contention are Swedish pair Joachim Backstrom (68) and Magnus Carlsson (66), English pair Iain Pyman (68) and Paul Waring (67) and another South African, Alex Haindl, who all lie just three off the pace on six-under-par.
Meanwhile, pre-tournament favourite Darren Clarke bounced back from his disappointing opening 73 on the supposedly easier West course with a splendid seven-birdie 65 on the East - the joint best of the day alongside Abery - to move into contention on four-under-par.
"The difference was in the putting," said Clarke, who flirted with the cut before picking up four birdies on the back nine.
"I got a putting lesson from Stuart Cage, a former tour player now working for our management group, before today's round and out on the course the putts started dropping."
As on the opening day, almost continuous rain enveloped both Royal Johannesburg's East and West courses, over which the event is played.
However, only the latter will be used for the final two rounds by the 65 players and ties who made the cut on a score of level-par 142.
