Haydn Porteous held onto his top spot on the leaderboard in the Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player and will take a three-stroke lead into the weekend at Killarney Country Club.
Related: Porteous, Synder share lead with 64s
Porteous shared the first-round lead with a 64 and then distanced himself from the pack with another 64 on Friday to climb to 12 under par overall.
It was another flawless performance from Porteous who has yet to drop a shot in 36 holes.
His nearest challenger is England’s Joe Long who signed for a 63 on Friday to hit the halfway mark at nine under par.
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Zimbabwe’s David Amm and Benjamin Follett-Smith, and the South African duo of Nikhil Rama and Herman Loubser are currently tied third on eight under par.
Porteous has continued to ride the momentum of a big 2025 in which he made his long-awaited return to the winner’s circle with his victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Gowrie Farm where he was given an invitation by the Sunshine Tour and made the most of the opportunity.
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“The win at Gowrie Farm was an awesome reboot for my career. For a long time I’ve battled with confidence and feeling like I’m moving in the right direction. Now for the first time in my career, I feel like I’m putting some big blocks down and building on them,” he said.
He also had the benefit of playing in a Blu Label Bushveld Tour event at Killarney Country Club the week before this Sunshine Tour event. Porteous missed the cut in that event with rounds of 75 and 69 and says it was a timely wake-up call for him.
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“I realised I had a bit of rust in my game so I did some hard work towards the end of that week and leading up to this event, and it looks like that work has paid off.”
But arguably the biggest change in his game has come off the fairways.
“You know, getting married and welcoming our baby girl who is now coming up to four weeks old – you start to realise what life’s all about and that’s hopefully going to show in my game.”
