Mallow's James Sugrue is determined to go big-game hunting over the final two rounds even after a late triple-bogey stopped his charge and left him seven shots the halfway lead in the African Amateur Strokeplay Championship.

The Amateur champion believes he's playing well enough to chase down runaway leader Ryan van Velzen (18), but he could not hide his frustration after running up a seven on his 17th hole in the second round at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa.

The Cork star, who is preparing to play in the Masters and US Open later this year, had made eight birdies and just one bogey to be an impressive, seven-under for the day with two holes to go, just two shots behind the leader.

But he made a series of mistakes at the par-four eighth en route to a four-under 68 and finds himself tied for second with Martin Vorster (the South African winner of last year’s East of Ireland) on seven-under-par.

They are seven behind Van Velzen, who added to their frustration by making an eagle at the 18th for the second day running to add a 66 to his opening 64 and lead 14-under.

"I played very, very well for 17 holes," said Sugrue. "Even when I made triple, I thought I hit a good drive down there, but it just crept into the bunker. 

"I thought I hit an okay approach, but it went into the bunker, and I won't talk about the rest. It was a seven in the end. 

"I am obviously very disappointed to be seven-under with two to play and finish on four under but it was a pretty decent score. I played very well, putted nicely so all in all relatively happy."

Starting on the back nine, the Corkman birdied the 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th and followed a bogey at the 17th with a birdie four at the 18th to turn in four-under 33.

He was on a roll when he picked up further birdies at the second, third and sixth but while his error at the eighth leaves him with a lot of ground to make up, he's feeling confident.

"I am playing well, and my game is pretty good," he told GolfRSA. "If I can take that triple bogey off the card, it's a pretty good score today.

"The course is unbelievable, probably one of the nicest courses I have ever played. Walking down the fairways, there's monkeys a couple of feet away from you, impala and all these crazy animals within a stone's throw. It's unbelievable. 

"We went [into Kruger National Park] last Saturday. It was an early start at quarter past five and we stayed there for the full day and saw the Big Five as well."

Van Velzen started on the first and cruised his way to five-under without a dropped shot in sight up to the 15th hole.

He made his only bogey of the day on the challenging par-three 16th, and more than redeemed himself with that eagle which exemplified his approach to playing the course which can seem intimidating.

"I'm not really used to shooting these kinds of scores," he said. "I can do it in social rounds, but not too often in tournaments. But I'm just not making mistakes at the moment and I'm really happy with the way I'm playing."

Like Sugrue, Van Velzen's countryman, (2018 East of Ireland winner) Christo Lamprecht might have finished closer to the lead. But he made double-bogey at the 16hth before coming home on one-under 71 and fourth on six-under.

"I played pretty nicely today," the 2018 East of Ireland winner said. "Yesterday was just better scoring, but I felt like I managed to play really good golf. I was three-under with three holes to go and hit just one bad shot – the first really bad shot of the week – and I got punished for it."

Vorster's five-under 67 was the second-best score of the day, and while he made bogeys at his 12th and 16th holes, he was pleased. 

"I played really solid from tee to green," said Voster, who became the second successive South African winner when he won the East by four shots at Baltray last year.

"The putter was a bit cold in the beginning, but it got hot towards the end. I'm going to have to go a bit lower. I like chasing and knowing that I need birdies to catch up."

"I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and shoot another low one tomorrow," he said.

The top 50 and ties will make the 54-hole cut on Wednesday and four of the eight-strong Irish contingent are on the right side the mark through two rounds.

Dundalk's Caolan Rafferty shot 72 to share 16th in two-over with Holywood's Tom McKibbin two shots further back in 23rd after a 73.

Hermitage's Rowan Lester shot 72 to lie solo 42nd on seven-over with Massereene's Tiarnan McLarnon a shot further back after a 77.

Like Sugrue, Malone's Matthew McClean fell victim to the eighth, also taking seven there en route to an 82 that leaves him a shot outside the cut mark in joint 51st on 10-over.

Naas' Robert Brazill bounced back from his opening 84 with a level par 72 to be tied 62nd on 12-over, but Carton House's Keith Egan has work to do after an 80 left him seven shots outside the top 50 on 161.

In the 54-hole team event, team South Africa Juniors pulled four shots clear of England and South Africa with the Team Ireland 1 side of Sugrue, Rafferty, McKibbin and Lester 10 shots behind in fourth place.

Team Ireland 2 comprising McClean, McLarnon, Egan and Brazill is joint eighth.

African Amateur Strokeplay, Leopard Creek (Par 72)

Detailed scores / Course planner

After 36 holes (RSA unless stated)

130 Ryan van Velzen 64 66

137 Martin Vorster 70 67, James Sugrue (Irl) 69 68

138 Christo Lamprecht Jnr 67 71

140 Liam van Deventer 71 69, Robin Williams (Eng) 70 70

141 Connor Wilson (Sco) 73 68, Haider Hussain (Eng) 70 71

142 Joseph Long (Eng) 74 68, Rigardt Albertse 71 71, Algot Kleen (Swe) 68 74

143 Gregory McKay 72 71, Jordan Duminy 69 74

145 Olly Huggins (Eng) 76 69, Adam Wallin (Swe) 72 73

146 Luca Filippi 75 71, Caolan Rafferty (Irl) 74 72, Casey Jarvis 72 74, Gustav Andersson (Swe) 70 76

147 Christiaan Maas 77 70, Samuel Simpson 76 71, Tom Vaillant (Fra) 75 72, Martin Couvra (Fra) 75 72, Lewis Irvine (Sco) 74 73, Nikhil Gopal 73 74, Yurav Premlall 72 75

148 James Wilson (Sco) 77 71, Tom McKibbin (Irl) 75 73, Jake Bolton (Eng) 75 73, Altin van der Merwe 73 75

149 Peter Handcock (Eng) 75 74, Aurelien Douce (Fra) 73 76, Nikhil Rama 73 76

150 Sam Bairstow (Eng) 79 71, Hugo Thyr (Swe) 79 71, Ayden Senger 78 72, Keagan Thomas 78 72, Darren Howie (Sco) 77 73, Pierre Pellegrin 74 76, Siyanda Mwandla 74 76, Theo Boulet (Fra) 73 77

151 Rowan Lester (Irl) 79 72

152 Nicolas Muller (Fra) 75 77, James Biggs (Eng) 75 77, Drikus Joubert 75 77, Tiarnan McLarnon (Irl) 75 77, Kyle de Beer 74 78

153 Christiaan Burke 82 71, Francois van der Walt 80 73, Andrew Williamson 76 77

154 Wilmer Edero (Swe) 80 74, Elliot Anger (Fra) 76 78, Hugo Archer (Fra) 75 79, Therion Nel 75 79, Armand van Dyk 75 79, Matthew McClean (Irl) 72 82

155 Tyran Snyders 78 77, Lucas Abrial (Fra) 77 78, Rasmus Jonasson (Swe) 77 78, Stuart Easton (Sco) 76 79, Jay Pandya (Ind) 74 81

156 Robert Brazill (Irl) 84 72, Jordan Burnand 79 77, Rakesh Channoo (Mri) 79 77, Stephen Roger (Sco) 78 78, Joe Harvey (Eng) 77 79, Oliver Goldhill 75 81

157 Oliver Brown 83 74

158 Aneurin Gounden 75 83

159 Rohan Dholepatil (Ind) 83 76, Luhan Bester 82 77, Daniel Nduva 81 78

161 Oswin Schlenkrich 82 79, Keith Egan (Irl) 81 80

163 Anirudh Kamireddypalli (Ind) 84 79

164 Promise Sombrero (Zim) 85 79

165 Gregg Gilson 84 81, Rasheed Mohamed (Zim) 83 82

166 Morton Kombai 81 85, Florent Toulet 80 86

167 Graeme Derek Lewis 87 80

168 Mandla Dlamini 82 86

177 Dil Thomas 90 87

WD Monty Scowsill (Eng)

Team (over 54 holes)

After 36 (Best 3 scores to count)

420 Team South Africa Juniors 210 Ryan van Velzen 64 Jordan Duminy 69 Christiaan Maas 77, 210 Ryan van Velzen 66 Christiaan Maas 70 Jordan Duminy 74

428 Team England 219 Robin Williams 70 Joseph Long 74 Jake Bolton 75, 209 Joseph Long 68 Robin Williams 70 Sam Bairstow 71

428 Team South Africa 216 Martin Vorster 70 Casey Jarvis 72 Kyle de Beer 74, 212 Martin Vorster 67 Samuel Simpson 71 Casey Jarvis 74

430 Team Ireland 1 218 James Sugrue 69 Caolan Rafferty 74 Tom McKibbin 75, 212 James Sugrue 68 Rowan Leister 72 Caolan Rafferty 72

433 Team Sweden 1 210 Algot Kleen 68 Gustav Andersson 70 Adam Wallin 72, 223 Adam Wallin 73 Algot Kleen 74 Gustav Andersson 76

444 Team Scotland 227 Lewis Irvine 74 Stuart Easton 76 James Wilson 77, 217 James Wilson 71 Lewis Irvine 73 Darren Howie 73

451 Team France 2 224 Theo Boulet 73 Martin Couvra 75 Elliot Anger 76, 227 Martin Couvra 72 Theo Boulet 77 Elliot Anger 78

453 Team France 1 225 Hugo Archer 75 Nicolas Muller 75 Tom Vaillant 75, 228 Tom Vaillant 72 Nicolas Muller 77 Hugo Archer 79

457 Team Ireland 2 228 Matthew McClean 72 Tiarnan McLarnon 75 Keith Egan 81, 229 Robert Brazill 72 Tiarnan McLarnon 77 Keith Egan 80

459 Team Sweden 2 236 Rasmus Jonasson 77 Hugo Thyr 79 Wilmer Edero 80, 223 Hugo Thyr 71 Wilmer Edero 74 Rasmus Jonasson 78

472 Team Mauritius 233 Pierre Pellegrin 74 Rakesh Channoo 79 Florent Toulet 80, 239Pierre Pellegrin 76 Rakesh Channoo 77 Florent Toulet 86

477 Team India 241 Jay Pandya 74 Rohan Dholepatil 83 Anirudh Kamireddypalli 84, 236Rohan Dholepatil 76 Anirudh Kamireddypalli 79 Jay Pandya 81

490 Team Zimbabwe 249 Morton Kombai 81 Rasheed Mohamed 83 Promise Sombrero 85, 241 Promise Sombrero 79 Graeme Derek Lewis 80 Rasheed Mohamed 82