He made two bogeys again on Tuesday in the second round of the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour’s Road to the Sunshine Tour Play Off #1 at State Mines, but Kyle McClatchie also made nine birdies on his way to a seven-under-par 65.

That took him to 12-under-par at the36-hole mark of the 54-hole tournament, and gave him a three-stroke lead over Ian Snyman as they head into the final round. Snyman, who leads the Road to the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, also made two bogeys, as well as an eagle and six birdies on his way to a six-under 66. He in turn had a two-stroke lead over Carlo Heunis, Slade Pickering, Ryan van Velzen and Delano Kotze in a share of third on seven-under.

Just as he did in the first round, McClatchie made three birdies in a row early on in his round from the second. And, for the second day in a row, he bogeyed the fifth. But a birdie on seven saw him turn again in three-under 33, and he made two birdies in a row twice – on the 10^th and 11^th, and the 14^th and 15^th – on the back nine. He dropped a shot on the 17^th, but a birdie on the 18^th saw him come home in 32.

McClatchie, who is in third place on the Road to the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, is riding a wave of great form at the start of the three-tournament play-off series, and a win at State Mines would take him closer to Snyman at the top of the leaderboard. The top six players will win their Sunshine Tour cards. Van Velzen is in second and is also in McClatchie’s sights.

The round of the day belonged to the man in fourth place on the Order of Merit, Erhard Lambrechts. After opening with a two-over 74 in the first round, he made two eagles on the homeward nine in his second round to race home in 30 for an eight-under 64. That saw him climb into a share of seventh with first-round co-leader Jonathan Waschefort, Ricky Hendler and Ryan Tipping on six-under for the tournament.