Hermitage’s Rowan Lester added a five-under 67 to his opening 66 lie just two shots behind halfway leader Casey Jarvis in the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship in Johannesburg.

The Dubliner sits alone in second place on 11-under par while Mallow’s James Sugrue is tied for third, just five shots off the pace, after a second round 66 at Randpark’s Firethorn Course.

Seven of the eight-strong Irish contingent made the three-over par cut with Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty tied for 21st on 141 after a 71, Matthew McClean on level par (72-72), Keith Egan 145 (74-71), Tom McKibbin 146 (71-75) and Robert Brazill 147 (71-76).

“I am delighted to be back,” Lester said of his return to South Africa with the GUI for the first time since 2016 when Jack Hume won the event at Blue Valley Golf Estate. “We are spoiled to come out here for two and a half weeks.”

He missed the last three GUI trips to South Africa as he was in college at Texas Wesleyan University but having left there to concentrate on playing golf full time, he has big plans for the future.

“I think I will go to Q-School for sure, in September and see where that brings me,” he said. “If I do good, I will probably turn pro soon after.

“If not, I will probably wait around a little longer for Walker Cup, if I am in the running, which is in May 2021. So we will just see. There is a lot of golf to play in between.”

Jarvis and Lester began the day tied for third on six-under, two shots behind round one pacesetter James Wilson from Scotland.

But the 16-year-old Boksburg teenager followed an opening 66 with a seven under par 65 to set the 36-hole target on 13-under.

Lester dropped just one shot in a 67 to finish two off the pace, while a sweet 66 propelled Amateur champion Sugrue to joint third on eight-under.

The Mallow golfer returned a bogey-free round to join Haider Hussain from England, who offset a pair of bogeys with three birdies in his 71.

Golf RSA reported:

With the Free State Open and Gauteng North Open trophies already in the silverware cupboard, Jarvis is targeting his third victory in 2020 and Randpark is certainly starting to prove a great hunting ground.

South Africa’s top ranked junior fired a second round eight-under par 64 in the rain on Firethorn en route to his Joburg Junior Open triumph in December.

A month later, he produced rounds of 68, 72 and 67 on the 6,746 metre layout in the South African Open Championship, which was set up as a par-71 course.

A one-under 70 on the Bushwillow added up to a seven-under-par 277 total that earned Jarvis a share of 36th in the Sunshine Tour and European Tour co-sanctioned event.

“I really love this course, especially the Firethorn course. It suits my eye and I feel very comfortable on the course, no matter what the conditions are,” he said.

His round got off to the perfect start with four birdies on the bounce from the 10th tee and kept his foot on the pedal, racking up four more gains.

“I kept the card clean until the seventh, where I had a soft bogey. Being in position for the first time in this sort of tournament, I'm comfortable and really happy in my game. I drove it really nicely and I had only 23 putts, so that’s pretty good going.

“I didn’t putt well at Leopard Creek, but the short game has been improving throughout the week, which is important. I didn't miss too many putts, and when I missed, it was by inches. I know it's going to be tough over the next two days, but I'm in good position.

“There are a lot of other guys playing well and feeling happy about their games, too. It could turn into some kind of a shootout. It won't be easy for anyone, but I'm happy to be in the mix. I'm glad I've put myself in this position. Hopefully tomorrow things will go my way. I can only control so much, and I'll try to do that.”

Strong winds made it tough on the afternoon starters, but GolfRSA No. 1 Martin Vorster and reigning Nomads SA Boys U-17 champion Amilkar Bhana produced some impressive golf to make up ground on the leader.

Fifteen-year-old Bhana sizzled with a 66 while Vorster, last week’s victor in the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Leopard Creek, carded 68 to tie for fifth on seven-under.

Wilson couldn’t conjure up the same magic as his opening round 64. 

The Balmore golfer strung together 17 pars before an untimely double-bogey finish dropped him back to a share of seventh. South Africa’s Kyle de Beer, and Dutch golfer Koen Kouwenaar are also in the bus on six-under.

South African Stroke Play Championship, Randpark Golf Club (Par 72)

Detailed scores (RSA unless stated)

131 Casey Jarvis 66 65

133 Rowan Lester (Irl) 66 67

136 James Sugrue (Irl) 70 66, Haider Hussain (Eng) 65 71

137 Amilkar Bhana 71 66, Martin Vorster 69 68

138 Koen Kouwenaar (Ned) 69 69, Kyle de Beer 67 71, James Wilson (Sco) 64 74

139 Drikus Joubert 71 68, Keagan Thomas 70 69, Siyanda Mwandla 70 69, Kiet van der Weele (Ned) 70 69, Connor Wilson (Sco) 67 72

140 Darren Howie (Sco) 72 68, Samuel Simpson 71 69, Sam Bairstow (Eng) 70 70, James Murray 70 70, Christiaan Burke 70 70, Olly Huggins (Eng) 70 70

141 Aneurin Gounden 73 68, Ayden Senger 70 71, Caolan Rafferty (Irl) 70 71, Nikhil Rama 70 71, Kieron van Wyk 69 72

142 Jonothan Broomhead 74 68, Joseph Long (Eng) 72 70, Nikhil Gopal 72 70, Charles Larcelet (Fra) 72 70, Yurav Premlall 71 71, James Biggs (Eng) 70 72, Nicolas Muller (Fra) 70 72, Tyran Snyders 69 73, Constantin Unger (Ger) 69 73

143 Mandla Dlamini 74 69, Dario Antonisse (Ned) 73 70, Christo Lamprecht Jnr 72 71, Christiaan Maas 71 72, Andrew Williamson 70 73, Thabiso Magwaza 69 74, Shaun Jones 69 74

144 Matthew McClean (Irl) 72 72, Peter Handcock (Eng) 72 72, Jordan Duminy 72 72, Adam Breen 71 73, Stuart Easton (Sco) 70 74, Bob Geurts (Ned) 69 75

145 Pierre Pellegrin 76 69, Keith Egan (Irl) 74 71, Jason Broomhead 73 72, Nordin van Tilburg (Ned) 72 73, Ryan van Velzen 72 73, Robin Williams (Eng) 72 73, Luca Filippi 70 75

146 Brendan Els 75 71, Letsoso Letsai 75 71, Sebastian Sliwka (Ger) 71 75, Tom McKibbin (Irl) 71 75

147 Nash de Klerk 77 70, Tom Vaillant (Fra) 75 72, Warwick Purchase 74 73, Elliot Anger (Fra) 73 74, Oliver Goldhill 73 74, Cole Stevens 72 75, Stephen Roger (Sco) 70 76, Robert Brazill (Irl) 71 76, Therion Nel 70 77, Louis Liebenberg 70 77

CUT

148 Rigardt Albertse 76 72, Matthew Mortimer 75 73, Florent Toulet 74 74, Connor Engelmohr (Ger) 74 74, Jaden Deltel 71 77

149 Aran Sinclair 75 74, Theo Boulet (Fra) 75 74, Jarryd Elliott 74 75, Donovan Liddicoat 74 75, Sinan Baburoglu 73 76

150 Fabrizio de Abreu 77 73, Jules Helary 77 73, Dylan Underwood 77 73, Martin Couvra (Fra) 77 73, Rasheed Mohamed (Zim) 77 73, Jake Bolton (Eng) 77 73, Dylan Melville 77 73, Oswin Schlenkrich 75 75, Tiarnan McLarnon (Irl) 73 77

151 Oliver Brown 78 73, Ben Firth (Eng) 76 75, Mike Saxer 76 75, Cade Cryer 75 76, Loris Schuepbach (Sui) 74 77

152 George van Vuuren 79 73, Matthew Dennis 78 74, Dawid Joubert 77 75, Hannes Strooh 76 76, Pieter Rossouw 76 76, Samual Mckenzie 72 80

153 Promise Sombrero (Zim) 79 74, Henning Stander 78 75, Luhan Bester 77 76, Caden Sanders 75 78, Emerson Bam 75 78, Liam Ross 74 79, Phil Tomkinson (Eng) 74 79, Christopher Long 74 79, Christopher Gutuza 72 81

154 Joe Harvey (Eng) 80 74

155 Daniel van Seumeren 77 78, Jaime Clive Lewis 74 81, Diego Leslie 73 82

156 Behn Heyns 78 78, Ernest Jaco Ludick 76 80, Ryan Welsh 73 83

157 Garreth Whitehead 76 81

158 Hugo Archer (Fra) 81 77, Nicholas Souranis 81 77, Christopher Bagnall 77 81, Reece McKain 77 81, Grant Ferreira 77 81, Handre Truter 76 82, Sean Paxton 75 83

159 Miles Taylor 82 77, Louis - Jnr Loubser 82 77, Pieter Joubert 80 79, Joshua Bürki 74 85

160 Matthew Gary Stieger 82 78, Sean Lottering 81 79, Morton Kombai 79 81

161 Ge-Rico Muller 85 76, Andrew Inggs 84 77

162 Khanya Mkhize 80 82

163 Alan Buttle 83 80, Nico Booyens 77 86

164 Graeme Derek Lewis 85 79

165 Dil Thomas 86 79

166 Wessel van Wyk Jnr 88 78

WD Travis Ladner 79 WD, Peter Basil Cambanis 86 WD, Ivan Laubser 88 WD

DQ Monty Scowsill (Eng), Gregory McKay