South African Darren Fichardt continues to lead the Sao Paulo Brazil Open on 14 under par at the conclusion of the second round, but his lead was cut to three shots as Australian Brett Rumford closed the gap with a round of 65, six under par, this morning.
Fichardt led by seven strokes overnight following his ten under par 61 yesterday but those players who were unable to complete their second rounds on Friday returned to the course this morning and started chipping away at his lead.
Rumford, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley as winners on the European Tour International Schedule this season, started slowly until holing his chip shot on the sixth for his first birdie of the day. But it was not until the 23 year old from Perth turned for home that he really started to make up ground. A birdie on the 11th, pitching to two feet, was followed by an eagle three on the 553 yards 13th after he fired his three wood to within six feet of the hole.
A drive and nine iron to three feet took Rumford to ten under par on the next and he moved to six under for the round with another birdie on the par five 17th, having found the green in two. A chance from three feet went begging on the last but his 65 still took him within striking distance of the lead.
“I missed the little one on the last but I holed everything else and you have got to be due to miss one every now and again,” he said. “I hit it all over the ball park today but holed everything. I only hit four fairways. The fairways are pretty narrow but the trees are quite wide and you can miss the fairways and still be okay. That is what I have done. Haven’t hit the fairways but not found too much trouble. As long as you have shots to the greens you have a chance and the putter worked.”
A shot adrift of Rumford is Argentina’s Jose Coceres, the highest ranked player in the field at 49th in the Official World Golf Rankings. Coceres had 15 holes to play this morning and made the most of the calm conditions to post a seven under par 64 to move to ten under par after 36 holes.
Coceres, a winner of two European Tour events including the 2000 Dubai Desert Classic, will move on to the United States next week to prepare for his debut in the Masters Tournament next month but is making the most of his visit to Brazil.
“I played very well,” he said. “I had a lot of chances for birdies including putts on the second and 15th from within five feet but seven under today is good. Now I’m four shots behind and I have a chance.”
Sweden’s Christopher Hanell moved to nine under par and five shots off the pace after concluding a round of 65 this morning, picking up seven birdies in the 16 holes he played today after a bogey on Friday before play was suspended. After picking up his first birdie of the day on his fifth, the 14th on the course, Hanell went on to roll in five more birdies in his next six holes to charge up the leaderboard. Chances slipped by on the third and fifth, his 12th and 14th, before the 27 year old picked up another shot on the sixth holing a ten foot putt.
“It was nice to get some putts in,” he said. “Once you hole a few putts you start playing a bit better. Your game spirals upwards. I’m five behind but another 64 or 65 you never know. It is not always easy to be leading.
“The key this morning was my putting. I’ve been reading the greens quite well. Think I’ve got them figured out well.”
South African Nic Henning fired a 64 to move to eight under par ahead of a group of six players on seven under par.
Play was suspended for the third day running due to the threat of lightning at 2pm local time soon after the third round had got underway.
