Rust? What rust? Max Homa – who’d barely touched a club in six weeks in time spent watching American football and baseball and with his family – continued to impress on his debut appearance in the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City, South Africa, where the world number eight added a 68 to his opening 66 for 134 to share the midway lead in the DP World Tour’s penultimate event of the season.
Homa’s rare foreign excursion, which involved some exploring of Africa’s safari wildlife along with his fellow US Ryder Cup member Justin Thomas pre-tournament, has proven to be a wise decision as he shared the 36-holes lead with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, recent winner of the Spanish Open.
For Tom McKibbin, the lone Irish player in the field, it proved to be a day when very little went his way. A second round 72 – two birdies, two bogeys – left the 20-year-old Ulsterman in tied-31st on two-under-par 142, eight shots adrift of the pacesetters.
Homa, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, but yet to win on the DP World Tour and playing for the first time since being on the losing USA team at the Ryder Cup in Rome, didn’t have a bogey through his opening two rounds while Pavon, who claimed a breakthrough tour win in Spain on this 185th career start, shot a second round 66 to main his rich form of late.
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“I’m very pleased, a little pleasantly surprised, so it’s been nice,” confessed Homa, adding: “The body’s been feeling better as the week’s gone on, so I woke up today feeling like a golfer again, which was nice. It’s a real dream. If you’re going to fly 27-odd hours over here, you might as well play some good golf, so it’s nice that I’m doing that.
“You have to guess the wind right, a lot, it’s incredibly confusing. But I think the same; continue to hit as many greens as you can, leave yourself in the right spots if you are on the green and just be patient. I think today was a good example. I shot one under on the front, felt it could be have been a couple better but I never really pressed and just kept giving myself looks and finally made a good one on 17, which made it feel exponentially better. Do a lot of that for the weekend, that will be the goal.”
Pavon has moved up gears in his career this season, currently 20th on the Race to Dubai rankings and guaranteed his place in next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
“That win [in Spain] brought me a lot of confidence in what I’m working on with my coaches. Everything is clear in my mind, I just show up and try to do my best. I’m more focused on me, the way I played. It was really solid for two days so hopefully I can take that into tomorrow and Sunday, grind as much as possible and see what happens Sunday,” said Pavon.
Homa and Pavon reached the midpoint with a one-stroke lead over England’s Dan Bradbury, with Danish duo Nicolai Hojgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen a shot further back in tied-fourth.
Meanwhile, it proved to be a tough day for the majority of Irish hopefuls in the DP World Tour final qualifying at the Infinitum golf resort in Tarragona, Spain, where Denmark’s Jeppe Kristian Andersen claimed the first round lead after shooting a seven-under-par 64, two shots clear of Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen.
The final qualifying is a marathon six-round tournament – played over two courses, the Lakes and the Hills, for the first four days before a cut – with the leading 25 players securing full tour cards for the DP World Tour next season.
Of the six Irish players in the 156-man field, Derryman Ruaidhrí McGee’s opening round of three-under-par 69 left him in tied-15th position and well placed but still with a lot of work to do if he is to achieve his goal of winning a full tour card.
For the others, the road is even rockier: Conor O’Rourke opened his quest with a 72 (tied-73rd) on the Hills, while Dermot McElroy, who started with three straight birdies, ultimately signed for a 71 at the Lakes (to also be in tied-73rd). Former tour winner Jonny Caldwell shot a 74 for tied-131st while Mari Power and Conor Purcell shot 76s to be in tied-140th.
