While on the surface of things it looked as if Wilco Nienaber threw things away on Friday with a seven-over-par 79 in the second round of the Challenge Tour’s Challenge de Espana, incredibly tough conditions meant he was still 10th at the halfway stage of the tournament.
This was after he had taken the first-round lead with an opening six-under-par 66, and after a second round in which on six players who made the cut broke par, and, in fact, four made 80 or worse.
So Nienaber’s good start from the 10th, with birdies on 11 and 13, stood him in good stead. And after three bogeys ahead of the turn, a birdie on the first looked promising. However, in the difficult wind, he made three more bogeys and two doubles for his 79.
For much of the day, it looked as if JC Ritchie at five-over for the tournament after a second-round three-over 75 might miss the cut, but that mark ballooned out during the day to seven-over, and he goes into the weekend in a share of 36th, just seven off the lead held at two-under by Mikael Lindberg of Sweden.
Easton, like Nienaber, carded a seven-over 79 in the second round, and that saw him make the cut on the number.
