Christiaan Bezuidenhout bogeyed the easiest hole on the course on Friday, but that was the sum of his errors as he carded the low round of the day with his seven-under-par 65 in the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

The second hole of the Gary Player Country Club played nearly a full stroke under par for the 72-man field in the DP World Tour event, but Bezuidenhout overcooked his tee shot to the right, and when he found his ball after putting a provisional in pretty much the same place, he took a penalty drop for the unplayable lie.

He hacked his third out, hit his fourth on the green and two-putted from just inside 15 feet for his bogey.

He had birdied the first to start his round well, and he got things back on track after that with three birdies on the front nine and four more on the back nine. That took him to nine-under-par through 36 holes for the tournament.

That left him just three strokes off the lead. Kristoffer Reitan of Norway retained his lead as France’s Adrien Saddier mounted a strong challenge.

Bezuidenhout won the 2020 South African Open at Sun City, one of his three wins on the DP World Tour, and said: “Definitely comfortable around this course, I’ve won here before.

“Like I said at the start of the week, the key here is just to keep it in play off the tee. The greens are so good.”

On his round, which featured just a solitary bogey at the second, he said: “It was a solid day. I drove pretty well, except on two, I lost it a little bit right.

“I just kept myself in play off the tee, which is crucial around this golf course. And then I also had two nice hole-outs as well off the green, which always helps.

“I left myself in an awkward position on 11 but holed out from there. And on 18, it wasn’t my best iron shot in but yeah, holed out from there as well, so it was good out there.

“It wasn’t my best tee-shot on number two today, lost it a little bit right. But overall, I drove it pretty well, except the drive on two. Overall it’s just a solid day tee to green.”

Reitan followed his spectacular opening 63 with a three-under-par 69 to reach 12-under-par for the tournament, one shot clear of Saddier who eagled the second to kick-start a round of 67. Saddier’s fellow Frenchman Julien Guerrier shared third place on nine-under with Bezuidenhout, the leading South African, two shots ahead of Garrick Higgo and Daniel van Tonder.

Higgo and Van Tonder were tied with South Korea’s Junghwan Lee and England’s Andy Sullivan on seven-under with another South African, Jayden Schaper, a shot further back.

Higgo, who triumphed on the course at the 2019 Sun City Challenge on the Sunshine Tour, joked: “I don’t think anybody’s comfortable around here! But obviously that was a nice experience.

“It was in the winter so it played a little bit different, a lot firmer. But yeah, any time you’ve won at a golf course, it does help.

“I have a lot of family that’s here which is different than every other week, on the other side, so I’m really enjoying it.”

He said of his round: “It was a bit of everything. I was in a lot of bunkers, so I was happy that my bunker play was pretty decent.

“I feel like I drove it better. Would have loved to hit a few better iron shots on the par threes but I’d say overall just a solid day.”

Thriston Lawrence, Aldrich Potgieter and Shaun Norris were in a share of 15th on four-under after rounds of 71, 71 and 72 respectively.