But he will be feeling the heat with Charl Schwartzel just one shot behind in second place after the 2011 Masters winner hit a 69, starting his round with consecutive bogeys but finishing birdie, eagle, birdie for a two-round total of 137.
Schwartzel is the highest profile South African golfer to have never won the country’s top professional prize in a tournament first played more than a century ago. But the sentimental favourite Ernie Els, who was just one off the overnight leaders after a first round 67, fell dramatically back after a five over-par 77 which included two triple bogeys. He did make the cut, however.
Sullivan, who carded an opening day 66, said he felt he might have been able to post a better score but dropped shots after finding the thick rough off the tee. “I thought it was going to be a really good knock on the front nine, but a few little errant drives meant the rough got its payback on me today,” he told reporters. Joint overnight leader Jbe Kruger slumped after a round of 80. Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and South Africans Colin Nel and JJ Senekal are tied in third place, two strokes off the lead.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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