He’s not leading after the second round of the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour’s Race to Q-School #1 at Modderfontein Golf Club, but Iceland’s Haraldur Magnus is enjoying the weather in South Africa and he revelled in that with a five-under-par 67 on Tuesday.
Magnus is in South Africa ahead of the Challenge Tour tournaments co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour, and with the temperature in Reykjavik just two degrees Centigrade today, and snow forecast, that’s clearly a good option.
And he is lying third on 10-under-par through 36 holes, with first-round leader Herman Loubser two strokes clear of Magnus on 12-under-par after he carded a second-successive six-under-par 66. Loubser leads by one from fellow-South African Ricky Hendler.
Magnus, ranked 598 on the Official World Golf Ranking, started his round with a flourish, making eagle on the first. He picked up three more birdies and two bogeys on the front nine, before dropping another shot on the 11th. But he picked up two more birdies coming home, which put him three shots clear of England’s Brandley Bawden and South African Dylan Kok in a share of fourth on seven-under-par.
Loubser was bogey-free for the second day in a row with his 66, picking up birdies on one, two, eight, 10, 13 and 18. With gains coming on all four of the par-fives, his course management is clearly in a good space heading into the final round.
