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MALELANE, South Africa (AP) — Brandon Stone made an eagle on the last hole after needing treatment on an injured back midway through his round to jump into a one-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Friday.
Stone's three on No. 18 saw him sign for a 66 to move to 11 under and a shot clear of defending champion Charl Schwartzel and Chris Hanson.
Stone rolled in a 10-foot putt for his eagle and the lead, but he began his round with a sore back, made it worse after hitting a shot out the rough on the eighth hole, and needed some physio from his trainer on No. 9.
"I got the back sorted for a few holes there and it held its nerve for the back nine," he said.
Stone won his first European Tour title at the South African Open at the beginning of the year. He had six birdies and two bogeys at Leopard Creek on Friday before his last-hole eagle.
His fellow South African Schwartzel held the clubhouse lead after a 68, with the former U.S. Masters champion making six birdies before his first dropped shots of the tournament, a double-bogey on his third-last hole of the second round.
The Alfred Dunhill is Schwartzel's favorite tournament having won four titles and three of the last four.
The double-bogey on No. 7, his 16th hole, lost Schwartzel the second-round lead as he finished with two pars.
"Overall I think I played well," Schwartzel said. "I gave myself a fair amount of chances and made some nice bonus putts."
England's Hanson joined Schwartzel in second place after one of the rounds of the day, a 7-under 65.
Two more South Africans were a shot back in a tie fourth on 9 under: George Coetzee also shot 65 and Keith Horne carded a 66.
The European Tour is in full swing again just two weeks after Henrik Stenson won the 2016 Race to Dubai title. The Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Australian PGA Championship, which also began on Thursday, are the first tournaments of the 2017 season.
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This story has been corrected to show Schwartzel made double-bogey on his third-last hole of the round, not his penultimate hole.
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