West Cornwall’s Harry Hall, who has remained in Las Vegas after graduating from UNLV last summer, was among the early leaders in round two of the South African Open.
Picture by GETTY IMAGES

CORNWALL’S Harry Hall continued the bright start to the West Countryman’s professional career as he fired a 68 at Randpark inthe second round of the South African Open.

That score saw him move into a share the clubhouse lead in the European Tour event, hosted by the City of Johannesburg.

Hall, who played in Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup defeat against the USA at Royal Liverpool, in September, only made his professional and European Tour debut at last season’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

He did not disappoint then, outscoring playing partner and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy in the final round as he finished in the top 20.

Hall moved to nine-under alongside local favourite Daniel Greene, who fired a 66.

That was one shot behind overnight leader Johannes Veerman.

South African Hennie du Plessis made five birdies in a row from the third on the Bushwillow Course,

He then added another on the ninth to become the first man into double figures before dropping two shots.

Thirty-four-year-old Greene was also playing the Bushwillow Course.

He turned in 32 with birdies on the fourth, seventh and eighth, before sandwiching another gain on the 12th with bogeys on the 11th and 14th.

A hat-trick of birdies from the 15th catapulted Greene up the leaderboard – but he soon had Hall for company.

The Las-Vegas based Englishman, who graduated from the golf programme in the gambling capital in Nevada last summer and is sponsored approriately by MGM Resorts, was also playing the Bushwillow.

Hall, who was the first Cornish player to have appeared in the Walker Cup since Philip Rowe in 1999, was level-par for his round after 11 holes with two birdies and two bogeys.

Harry Hall and Gough win leaves GB&I two points clear of USA in Walker Cup at Hoylake

But birdies on the 12th, 15th and 17th gave him a share of top spot.

Cheshire’s Matthew Baldwin, Peter Karmis and JC Ritchie were all on course in the morning at eight-under, with Italian Nino Bertasio, who was second after the first round, also at that mark but among the later starters.

•To follow live scoring at Randpark, click here.

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