Nienaber hoping for more of the same after surging into second place in Türkiye

SOUTH Africa's Wilco Nienaber surged into second place on the Turkish Airlines Open leaderboard after an excellent second-round 65 six-under par, bringing his total to an impressive nine-under, at the Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort on Friday.

- ZAAHIER ADAMS

Starting the day on three-under, the big-hitting Nienaber struck six birdies, including on the notorious 10th and also the 18th holes, and bogeyed just one to slot in just two shots off leader Frenchman Martin Couvra (-11), who carded a second round 66.

“I am proud of the day. I thought it was going to be pretty tricky,” Nienaber told Independent Media.

“On the mental side of things, I had to work through a few things going around the fourth, fifth and sixth hole, and managed to do that, so very proud.”

The two-times NTT DATA Pro-Am winner certainly feels he can be in contention as the competition heads into the business end over the weekend.