Sjoland steals a march on the locals
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Your support makes all the difference.Patrik Sjoland upstaged home hopes Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and Retief Goosen to take the lead after the second round of a hotly contested South African Open in Port Elizabeth. The Swede, who lost his tour card just over a year ago, outdid impressive rounds by the three South Africans to take a one-shot lead with a birdie on the final hole and finish with a 64.
The 35-year-old Swede said of losing his card: "I was tired of all the travelling; after all I was on the tour for around 10 years, and in a way it was nice to lose my card. It allowed me to spend some time at home and think things over."
Immelman, who celebrates his 27th birthday today, and Els both carded 66s to be a shot behind. Three shots further back was Goosen, the other top-10 ranked player in the field and England's surprise package, Andrew Raitt, who carded a 66 and 68.
Five players were on eight under including Lee Westwood, who hit his second consecutive 68. He was alongside the South Africans Louis Oosthuizen, Jaco van Zyl and Steve van Vuuren who hit 65s.
Earlier Goosen who hit an embarrassing 11 on the 17th yesterday briefly took the lead and shot an eagle on the same hole that gave him his first-round nightmare. He smashed a two-iron down the fairway before hitting a 275-yard three wood on to the green and from there, he holed a 20-foot eagle putt to claim a share of the lead.
"I had a good round, and my driver was working." Goosen said. When asked about the 17th in the first round, he added: "It's history, there's nothing to say."
Westwood's round was error free as he sank three birdies on the back nine to turn on seven under and then added another on the seventh to take him top on eight under with two to play before he was overtaken.
Elsewhere, Tiger Woods, helped by two huge birdie putts, grabbed the lead from overnight leader Henrik Stenson in the Target World Challenge second round yesterday. The world No 1 holed out from 40 feet at the ninth and from 50 feet at the 10th on his way to a four-under-par 68.
That left him at eight-under 136, one ahead of Swede Stenson who carded an eventful 71. Although Stenson eagled the par-five 11th after hitting a superb second shot to 10 feet to forge three shots clear, he double-bogeyed the par-three 12th after missing the green wildly to the right.
Geoff Ogilvy returned a 70 to join Chris DiMarco (68) in third place at six under with Britain's Paul Casey (70) a further stroke back in fifth. Britain's Luke Donald, champion at Sherwood Country Club last year, hit a disappointing 74.
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