Gavin Moynihan ended a run of 18 missed cuts in a row after a 74 left him nine shots behind France’s Jeong weon Ko and South Africa’s Jacques Blaauw on level par in the Challenge Tour’s Bain's Whisky Cape Town Open.

The Portrane talent (26) was four-under for the tournament after picking up two birdies in the first three holes of his second round. But after dropping a shot to turn in three-under, he had to dig deep to make his first cut since the 2020 Austrian Open, nine months ago, covering his back nine in 39 to make it on even par.

Young Frenchman Jeong weon Ko carded a scintillating seven-under-par front nine to tie the lead with South Africa’s Jacques Blaauw at the halfway stage. 

The 23-year-old added two further birdies on the back nine, as well as a single bogey, following his front nine blitz to post an eight-under-par second round of 64 at Royal Cape Golf Club, joining Blaauw on nine under par after the first round leader added a three-under-par round of 69 on day two.

The duo lead by one from New Zealander Daniel Hillier in third on eight under par, while Danish duo Niklas Norgaard Møller and Martin Simonsen share fourth place on seven under.

However, it was Ko, whose heritage is French and Korean, who stole the show with seven front-nine birdies to snatch a share of the lead at the halfway stage.

“It was the first time I’ve ever birdied five holes in a row like that so it felt really good,” Ko said. “I didn’t think too much about the score, just kept on doing my stuff and focussing on each shot.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I was expecting some good scores but not that good. It shows the work I’m putting in is paying off. I’m pretty happy with this and I hope the next couple of days are going to be good as well.

“We’ve got a lot of these type of courses in France, so I’m used to it. Some shots can get tricky and I think I played safe, which paid off pretty well.”

South Africa’s Blaauw, who took the lead on day one thanks to a six-under-par 66, battled the wind against the backdrop of Table Mountain to keep pace with Ko, who threatened to run away with the lead.

“I’m very happy with the two days of work,” Blauuw said. “When I got here this morning I thought it was going to be a tough one out there because the forecast looked like it was going to be blustery. It’s died down now so it worked out pretty well.

“There were a couple of stretches where the wind was up and you have to think about a lot of shots and shape a lot of shots, into the wind or with the wind, which was quite hard. It was a two-club wind, that’s what we played it as. It died down on the last couple of holes which made it a little bit easier.”

The cut fell at level par at Royal Cape Golf Club with 72 players surviving to play the weekend. The third round of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open will begin at 8:24 am local time, with the final group of Blaauw, Hillier and Ko getting underway at 10:25 am. 

Michael Hoey missed the cut as he followed his opening 70 with an 80 to finish in six-over.

Scores