Dean O’Riley carded the lowest round of the day on Tuesday in the second round of the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School First Stage at Maccauvlei Golf Club as his seven-under-par 65 catapulted him into contention.

The man who defeated Dylan Frittelli in the 2010 South African Open Championship for the Freddie Tait Cup for the leading amateur in that tournament moved to seven-under-par for the tournament and a share of third, three strokes behind leader Thomas Longbella of the United States. Longbella carded a second successive five-under 67 to lead by two from South African amateur Christopher Long.

O’Riley, who endured a tough few years as a professional on the Sunshine Tour after pulling off three top-10s in his rookie season in 2011, gave up playing as a touring professional and was director of golf at Vaal de Grace Golf Estate. With that no longer operational, he has dipped his toes back in the waters of tournament golf, and pulled off a win on the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour last November in Modderfontein.

On Tuesday, playing with Longbella, he rolled back the years and carded a bogey-free effort to overcome his quiet level-par opening round and put himself in a position to be one of 40 players who will go through to the Qualifying School Final Stage scheduled for the end of April.

O’Riley shared third with Austrian Bernard Neumayer and another South African amateur, Sean Cronje.