Booth and Thomson in the mix in South Africa

Carly Booth and Michele Thomson are both in the hunt for Scottish golf ’s latest success on South African soil, but face a formidable task in trying to catch Leeanne Pace.

Heading into the final round of the Investec South African Women’s Open, Booth and Thomson are joint seventh after some good work so far at Westlake Golf Club in Capetown.

Maintaining her recent good form, Booth carded a 71 in the second round while Thomson signed for a 72, leaving the Scottish pair on one over par.

They’re in a position to try to make their presence felt in the closing circuit, although Pace could be hard to catch after the home player opened up a two-shot lead by moving to four-under on the back of a 68.

“My one under should have been about four or five,” said Booth, who finished fourth in the Canberra Classic a fortnight ago and was then joint 12th last weekend in the New South Wales Open at Queanbeyan GC.

“Hopefully the putts that didn’t drop today will drop tomorrow.”

On the European Tour, Liam Johnston had his chipping to thank as the Scot cemented his place in the top 10 at the halfway stage in the Magical Kenya Open in Nairobi.

A second-round 69 at Karen Golf Club gave the 26-year-old from Dumfries a six-under-par total in the new event on the circuit.

He’s sitting joint-seventh, six shots behind Louis De Jager after the South African stormed four clear of the chasing pack after backing up his opening 64 with a66.

“I’m happy with my today round,” said Johnston, one of the four Scottish newcomers on the European Tour this season after graduating from the Challenge Tour.

“I didn’t strike it as well as yesterday, but my chipping helped me massively to get it round in a couple under.”