Kristoffer Reitan retained his lead at the halfway stage of the 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player as Adrien Saddier mounted a strong challenge.
Reitan followed his spectacular opening 63 with a -3 69 to reach -12 for the tournament, one shot clear of Saddier who eagled the second to kick-start a round of 67.
Saddier's fellow Frenchman Julien Guerrier shared third place on -9 with Christiaan Bezuidenhout - the leading South African, two shots ahead of Garrick Higgo and Daniel van Tonder.
Reitan said: “Pleased about that, happy with the bounce that I got and happy to keep the momentum up a little bit with that birdie on the last. Not a great feeling to make those back-to-back bogeys so it’s good to bounce back with a birdie on the last."
On his round overall, he said: “Pretty happy, to be honest. Started off pretty well in my opinion but struggling with the approach shots, is how I quickly review it, which give you a little bit of trouble.
“Some good short game, which saved me a few times, and towards the end I could feel how difficult it was once the approach shots weren’t really co-operating.
“Tough course but happy to finish off strong with a birdie at the last and it’s a good overall score so, happy.
Saddier did not make his first bogey of the week until his 34th hole and he said of Friday's round: “Yeah, it was a nice day, pretty hot start. Just a pity about the finish but overall a good day, yeah.
“The second shot on two, it was quite lucky because I didn’t expect to reach the green, to be honest, I was playing to just land 10 short of the green and have an easy chip, and it went pretty hard up the face.
“Nice result, nice three – bit lucky but we’ll take it!
Guerrier, who tied for sixth in this tournament last year, said: “Very happy about my day, my iron game was much better than yesterday.
“I like it when it’s a difficult course. I made two good rounds, last year I played well and I played well (here) also in the past."
Higgo and Van Tonder were tied with South Korea's Junghwan Lee and England's Andy Sullivan on seven under with another South African, Jayden Schaper, a shot further back.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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