• Alfred Dunhill Championship, Round Two

Bourdy keeping pace with Schwartzel

Gregory Bourdy has kept pace with Charl Schwartzel ... so far © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Profile: Charl Schwartzel

Leaderboard

Gregory Bourdy was the one man able to keep pace with the flying Charl Schwartzel during the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Friday.

Bourdy, the overnight leader, carded a seven-under par second round of 65 to move to 13-under for the tournament - keeping him level with Schwartzel, who stormed round Leopard Creek in just 64 shots.

The South African, looking for back-to-back wins after obliterating the field last week in Thailand, had six birdies during his second round - with an eagle at the 18th (his ninth) the highlight of another productive day.

"It was a very solid round," Schwartzel said. "I made hardly any mistakes and got away with the odd bad shot.

"It's out there. If you are playing par fives well and hitting the fairways you can hit some good shots into the greens.

"I've not driven as well as I did a couple of weeks ago, but I'm hitting good iron shots and felling good with the putter."

Bourdy had an eagle of his own at the short par-four sixth to keep pace with his rival, as the two men built a four-shot advantage over nearest challenger Darren Fichardt, with Steve Webster and Louis de Jager at eight-under.

"It's going to be an exciting weekend," Bourdy noted. "Charl is a great player, one of the best in the world.

"In South Africa it's always nice to play with some of the top players in the world on Saturday and Sunday. I like these guys, so it should be a great time."

Robert Rock continued his encouraging start to the tournament to shoot a round of 68 on Friday, putting him seven-under at the tournament's halfway stage.

Also near the top of the leaderboard, Englishman Richard Finch is well placed at six-under - alongside Scott Jamieson, the early Race to Dubai standings leader following his victory at the Nelson Mandela Championship last week.

Talented up-and-coming South African duo Branden Grace and George Coetzee are five-under and three-under respectively.

Louis Oosthuizen, the best player in the field according to the world rankings, bounced back from a horrible first day with a second round 67 - with a bogey at the par-five 18th restricting him to four-under for 36 holes, some way off Schwartzel's pace.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.