Rory three off lead, but battling injury

ENGLAND’S Graeme Storm is the man to catch at the SA Open after firing a blemish-free nine-under-par 63 in the second round at Glendower yesterday.

At 12-under-par the 37-year-old holds a two-shot lead over Peter Uilhein of the USA and the South African duo of Jbe Kruger and joint first round leader Trevor Fisher Jnr.

A further shot back at nine-under par is a big group that includes tournament favourite and world number two Rory McIlroy.

But golfing fans and the organisers of the South African Open will be holding their breath that the Northern Irishmen tees it up today after picking up an injury earlier in the week. He said he battled through yesterday’s second round and nearly called it quits before teeing it up just after midday.

“I’m actually surprised I’m standing here,” said McIlroy after a second round 68 to go with his first round 67.

“I actually thought about pulling out before even teeing off today. I tweaked my back somehow and the first few shots today weren’t very comfortable and it still isn’t really comfortable. I can’t really take a deep breath because I’ve done something to my upper back. I’m going to go get some treatment now.

“Hopefully I feel better tomorrow. I don’t want to withdraw... it would let a lot of people down so that’s why I kept going today. As I said, I’m going to get some physio now and hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow. I stuck at it.”

McIlroy enjoyed a torrid start to his round, registering a bogey at the par-five second, before going birdie, double bogey at the fourth. His approach hit a sprinkler head and he deemed his ball unplayable. He also made a bogey at the fourth on Thursday.

McIlroy though bounced back in style, thrilling the estimated 8000 fans who turned up to follow him, defending champion Brandon Stone and George Coetzee around the course. He eagled the par=five eighth and then birdied the ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th before dropping shots at 17 and 18.

“Considering that (the back injury), I played well,” he said. “The middle (section) was good. Once I got it going and saw putts going in I got some momentum which was nice. I’m disappointed to finish the way I did. I thought I hit a good shot on 17, but it just pitched a bit too far. Then at 18 I was probably just rushing a bit to get in before the weather. Overall, the start and the finish weren’t great but everything in between was pretty good and I’m still in contention heading into the weekend.”

That is, of course, if he gets over the injury that hampered him at times yesterday.

Storm, who shot 69 on Thursday, said his putter had done the trick for him. “It’s obviously great to shoot a score like that. I had a putt on the last... a long putt to equal my best ever score, but I’ll take 63,” he said.

“The putter was hot... it was hot yesterday and it was hot today. Yesterday (Thursday) I didn’t capitalise as much as I did today.

“I could have birdied a couple more of the par-fives (he only birdied one of them, the eighth) so to shoot 63 and only having birdied one of the par-fives around here, you know, I’ve played pretty good.”

Defending champion Brandon Stone hit back after a disappointing 74 on Thursday with a 67 yesterday to be at three-under par, while Jaco van Zyl, who won himself a BMWi8 with a hole in one at the 204m par three 17th hole, is also very much in contention after posting a 65 after a first round of 71.

Play will resume this morning after bad weather halted play around 5pm yesterday but it’s unlikely former champions Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Andy Sullivan will make the cut, projected to be at one-underpar.