Donaldson takes charge at Sun City

European Tour

Welshman Jamie Donaldson overcame an unfortunate penalty to take a three-shot lead after the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

With the first day’s action curtailed due to a thunderstorm, the players were forced to complete their first rounds on Friday morning, with Donaldson signing for a 67 before adding a second-round six-under-par 66 later in the afternoon to take his total to 11 under par.

That gave him a three-shot lead over closest challengers Ryan Moore and Henrik Stenson. Moore had rounds of 71 and 65, while Stenson once again underlined his superb form of late with rounds of 69 and 67.

Donaldson’s round might have been even better but for an unfortunate incident on the par-five 10th when he found a fairway bunker off the tee and hit the lip of the bunker with his second shot.

Unluckily, the ball bounced back and hit the shaft of his club as he followed through, sending the ball back into the sand and resulting in a one-shot penalty.

Two superb shots from there limited the damage to just a bogey, however, and Donaldson said: These bizarre things happen and you just have to get on with it. In the end it was a good six!

“I’ve played very nicely for the first two rounds and hit a lot of good shots so I am happy with the way I am playing. We had to play six holes of the first round and then back out after a 45-minute break for the second, so it’s been a long day.”

Defending champion Martin Kaymer and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn are a shot behind Moore and Stenson in a tie for fourth, with Sergio Garcia, who led after the first round following a 66, dropping back to five under after struggling to a 73.

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