Casey Jarvis seemed to be on his way to a second sub-60 round in his fledgling professional career on Friday, and in the end, he settled for a seven-under-par 63 in the second round of the Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open at GC Adamstal in Ramsau, Austria.
That 63 was enough to take him to 12-under-par for the tournament and to the top of the leaderboard. He was one shot ahead of first-round leader Robin Roussel of France, with Jeppe Kristian Andersen of Denmark and Frenchman Franck Daux two shots further back in third on nine-under-par.
Jarvis started his superb run on the 10th, and was immediately into his stride with birdies on 10 and 11. There were three pars in a row after that, and then he caught fire. He made consecutive birdies all the way to the turn – four of them – and then another on the first for five in a row. When he birdied the third to reach eight-under on the par-70 course, thoughts naturally turned to breaking 60 again to go with his 59 at Dainfern back home in the Stella Artois Players Championship back in April.
With six holes left, and one of them a par-five, it was not beyond the realms of possibility. However, he dropped a shot on the fourth, and that seemed to put him off his jaunty stride. It was pars all the way home for the 19-year-old, including on the par-five seventh. But it was enough for the lead.
Dylan Naidoo had a three-under-par 67 as he moved into a share of 15th on five-under, seven shots behind Jarvis. Luke Jerling posted a two-under 68 and was on three-under for a share of 27th, together with JJ Senekal who had a three-under 67.
Keenan Davidse went two-over for a 72 and was in a share of 60th on one-under with Brandon Stone who had a one-over 71.
Pieter Moolman and Jaco Prinsloo on level-par missed the cut, which was at one-under, by one. Dylan Mostert was on one-over, and Yurav Premlall on three-over. Haydn Porteous withdrew, and will also not be playing on the weekend.
