Luca Filippi made a bogey on the fourth at Chapman Golf Club in the second round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open on Friday. And then, he didn’t get mad; he got even – with a seven-under-par 65 taking him into a five-stroke lead at halfway.
Filippi made an eagle, six birdies and just that one bogey as he stretched out to 11-under-par through 36 holes. That put him well clear of his nearest pursuer, Louis de Jager, who carded a three-under-par 69 to move to six-under for the tournament which was played for the first two rounds at both Chapman and Royal Harare Golf Club ahead of the cut and the final two rounds at Royal Harare.
Filippi started his day with a birdie on the first, and then, out of nowhere, three-putted on the par-four fourth to drop a shot. Besides that error, it was a good day for the 23-year-old who is starting his second season on the Sunshine Tour. It was especially good with his putter, as he had just 27 putts during the round, compared to the 29 in his opening 68 at Royal Harare, so the three-putt was inexplicable. Perhaps he will feel he made up for that when he holed out from off the green for birdie on the par-four 15th.
And he had just one putt eight times during his round, one of which came on the par-five 14th where he reached the green in two. In fact, he reached 15 greens in regulation for another improvement to his game from the first round. Now, if he can hit more fairways over the weekend than the nine from Friday, he will be looking good on Sunday afternoon.
Behind Filippi and De Jager, there was a logjam on five-under-par in a share of third: Zambia’s Madalitso Muthiya, Dan Erikson of the United States, and South Africans Louis Albertse, Jaco Ahlers and Albert Venter.
