Teaghan Gauche and Rourke van der Spuy finished the second round of the Investec Royal Swazi Open as joint leaders on 27 points at the Royal Swazi Spa Country Club.

Gauche says he almost withdrew from the tournament, but stuck to it to sign for a seven-under-par 65 and earn 16 points. A quick-fire four-under 68 in the second round earned him 11 points, which took him to the top of the leaderboard on 27 points.

‘I got off to a slow front nine, but got things going again on the back nine, so yes, I am very happy with that round,’ Gauche said, ‘Today I probably hit it a bit worse than yesterday, to be honest, but I just kept to my routines and luckily there were no terrible shots. I am confident for the weekend and I am looking forward to it.’

Van der Spuy made a slow start to the second round, as he made only a pair of birdies on the front nine, but recovered swiftly on the back nine with six birdies on the homeward stretch. And, having shot 31 on the front nine on Wednesday and another 31 on the back nine, this left the 27-year old full of confidence. ‘This is a course that I feel I can get both nines and it has been the same story in the past, and hopefully we can match the two together on the weekend,’ he said, ‘It’s a matter of staying patient. The birdies are out there.’

Lurking behind Gauche and Van der Spuy on 26 points for the week was veteran Vaughn Groenewald, who made birdie, eagle and birdie on 10, 11 and 12.

The duo of Neil Schietekat and Merrick Bremner follow closely behind Groenewald on 25 points.

 LEADING SCORES
27 Teaghan Gauche 16 11, Rourke van der Spuy 14 13
26 Vaughn Groenewald 14 12
25 Merrick Bremner 14 11, Neil Schietekat 14 11
24 Jared Harvey 12 12
23 Louis de Jager 12 11
22 Dean Burmester 5 17, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 12 10, Lyle Rowe 11 11, Oliver Bekker 12 10, Sipho Bujela 10 12
21 Jaco Prinsloo 11 10
20 Ockie Strydom 6 14, Ruan de Smidt 9 11

Photo: Getty Images