Rory Sabbatini
Rory Sabbatini put his youthful golfing years in the wind on Durban courses to good use on Friday to card a course record-equalling six-under-par 64 in the second round of the Honda Classic.
“Fortunately for me I grew up playing in the wind,” he said “so I’m kind of used to kind of feeling the shot out a little bit.”
His feel for the wind saw him into second place and two shots ahead of Charl Schwartzel, who was one-under for the round and three-under for the tournament, alone in third place.
Nick Price, who was level after the opening round, battled to a four-over-par 74, while Trevor Immelman carded a 71 to go with his opening 74 to climb to a share of 52nd.
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen went round in level-par 70 to reach halfway on 145, nine strokes off the lead.
Ernie Els made the cut on the number, after his one-over 71 for the second round saw him on 146 for the tournament.
It was Sabbtini’s putting which made sure the wind wasn’t a big deal to him on the day: He needed just nine putts on the back nine and 21 for the day as he got everything together after a quiet 2010 and a quiet start to 2011.
“I’m the most confident I’ve been with the putter in a really long time, so that’s a key factor for me right there,” he said.
His 64 was two shots lower than any other score in the first two rounds and eight-and-a-half strokes below Friday’s scoring average.
“The course is playing extremely tough,” said Sabbatini. “The conditions are severe, and everyone is going to make mistakes. Nobody is above it this week. You are just going to have to be patient out there and realize that's going to happen. Just try and make sure you eliminate the big numbers.”
