Moments after Swede Henrik Stenson opened up a six-stroke lead over the field, the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge was suspended for what was aptly described as "high electric activity" at the Gary Player Country Club on Friday.

Stenson started the second round with a five-stroke lead and, despite a bogey at the first, remained untouchable as he moved six clear of the field on 12-under par through 10 holes before play was suspended at 14.25 for lightning.

South Africa's Rory Sabbatini is still his nearest challenger on six-under par, and still to complete the 10th hole. KJ Choi made three consecutive birdies to climb to five-under through 13 holes. Robert Karlsson is at four-under par through 12 holes, with world number two Sergio Garcia at two-under through 12 and defending champion Trevor Immelman at one over through 13.

The second round will resume at 8.30 on Saturday morning. Should there be no further delays, the third round is scheduled to start at 11.10.

Stenson bogeyed the par-four first hole after driving into the thick rough left of the fairway. But he recovered with a birdie at the second and added birdies at the fifth, ninth and 10th holes to remain on course for a victory in only his third appearance in this tournament.

"It's nice when you still have a good lead, but there is still a long way to go in this tournament. It's quite easy for somebody to make up that gap, and if I start making a few bogeys it can change quite easily. I just need to try and keep on moving forward one hole at a time," said Stenson, who finished second on his debut in this tournament in 2006 and fourth last year.

Despite such a healthy lead at the start of the round, Stenson said he had no thoughts of playing defensively on Friday.

"I wasn't going to defend my lead. I seem to be putting pretty well, and if I can continue to hit fairways and greens and give myself chances for birdies, then I can keep moving forward.

"No matter how big your lead, you have to keep moving forward. Saturday is going to be a long day, and Rory is right behind and chasing me, so that keeps me on my toes."

Sabbatini was the only player who made some inroads into Stenson's lead on Friday. But it came as early as the first hole when Stenson bogeyed and Sabbatini parred to see them separated by only four shots at that stage.

Choi putted superbly on Friday during his move up the leaderboard, but the Korean admits it will be hard to catch Stenson.

"Henrik is definitely top of his game right now and it won't be easy. But you never know what can happen," he said.

Lee Westwood, at three-under par through 11 holes, is holding out some hope that Stenson can still be caught.

"You can't help it if somebody has a flyer like he has this week.

You can only concentrate on your own game. But suspensions like this can change someone's momentum for the good or for the bad. You just have to keep plugging away yourself."


RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook