Williams powers himself to the summit in Soweto

Robin Williams took full advantage of his length off the tee in the second round of the Altron Big Easy Tour event in Soweto and produced a fine four-under-par 68 which helped him to a one-shot lead on seven-under-par on Wednesday.

While Williams conceded that some pin positions were rather tricky at the Soweto Country Club on day two of this 54-hole tournament, he knew he still had enough ammunition in his arsenal to challenge for the top spot ahead of the final round.

“I played solidly today,” he said after his round, “but I thought today was a bit trickier than yesterday with the wind and some pins were in some ugly spots. But, I used my length off the tee very well today. This is not a very long course but it’s a bit fiddly because there are some holes where you can hit it on another fairway and get a better shot from there.

“I think this is more of a second shot golf course and you will have a lot of times where you have a lot of irons and wedges in and if you capitalise, then it just becomes a putting game.”

Williams, solid as he was, struggled to make birdies on the front nine; sinking two and making a single drop on that stretch. It was on the back nine that he found his rhythm. Back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 were followed by another brace of birdies on the 14^th and 15^th holes before the Stellenbosch-born Williams closed off with another birdie for a bogey-free back nine of 32.

“This is my first time playing this course and I feel like I played much better on the back nine in both rounds so far,” Williams noted. “The front is a little bit trickier, I think. I definitely think the back nine here is the scoring nine. Tomorrow will be a new day and I want to keep playing the way I have played the first two days.”

Hot on his heels and just a shot adrift is Ricky Hendler thanks to a second successive 69 and a shot further lies the pair of Jordan Duminy and Zambia’s Dayne Moore. Duminy shot a 70 while Moore signed for a 68 for a tournament total of five under.