Eagle-eyed Els soars to the top at Sun City

ERNIE ELS eagled the par-four 17th and moved into the outright lead with a superb 65 on the second day of the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

The South African's magnificent approach shot on the penultimate hole buried itself inside the cup without bouncing.

The eagle, the first in the tournament, was preceded by a sensational shot which gave Els a birdie on the 16th.

Only a bogey on the 13th ruined what would otherwise have been a flawless round for the home favourite who goes into today on nine under one stroke better than Chris DiMarco, the joint overnight leader with Retief Goosen.

Els singled out his caddy Ricci Roberts for the good luck he had with his approach on the 17th.

''It's a first for me, I've never played those two holes in four shots before,'' he said.

''The approach on 17 with my nine-iron was probably the shot of the year for me. I brought it in from 153 metres and it just went in.

''Ricci was all over that shot and he was jumping up and down and I think the ball listened to Ricci.''

Els started the day two shots behind the pair Goosen and DiMarco.

Goosen found the going tough and had to settle for a hard-worked 72, leaving him on four under for the event alongside American Jim Furyk.

Next best is Irishman Darren Clarke Northern Ireland, who is on five under four shots adrift of the South African after shooting 67.

''Anytime you shoot 67 it is going to be a good round,'' Clarke said.

''The course is very tough this week. It's difficult to determine the speed on the greens and it makes it that little bit tougher. So a 67 is always good, I'm very pleased with it.''

Pádraig Harrington has a huge amount of work to do. Failing to break 70 over two days means he lies seven shots off the pace on 142.

Nick Faldo intends to play ''really aggressively'' over the weekend after enjoying a late flourish to reach the halfway stage just four shots off the Omega Hong Kong Open lead at Fanling.

The six-time major winner shot a second-round 65, four under par over the 6,466-yard course, to move into the weekend in sight of the lead which is held jointly by seven players.

The Englishman, without a win since the Nissan Open five years ago, was in confident mood as he revealed he would not be holding back in search of a belated victory.

He said: ''I plan to play really aggressively going into the weekend.

''I'm just going to go for everything. That is the goal, and I'll see what I can do. That is plan A.''

Faldo faced the ignominy of missing the cut at the £450,000 event when he stood even par for the tournament with just eight holes of his round to play.

Failure to make the weekend would have been something of a fall from grace for the three-time Open champion the last time he played this course, in the 1990 Johnnie Walker Classic, he won the tournament.

But on a humid day over the par-69 course the 45-year-old put together another of his famous rescue acts to survive.

A birdie two at the 11th set the ball rolling, and he followed that with an 18-foot putt for eagle on the long 12th after a superb three wood before another birdie on the next.

Two putts from about 25 feet on the 14th gave him a par. But he was back in the red numbers on the next, holing a 30-footer across the green for a two.

The run rocketed the three-time US Masters and Open winner up the leaderboard, currently topped on nine-under 129 by a septuplet of relatively unheralded names.