Donald looks to get putter working

Debutant Luke Donald is still trying to find his feet at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City but the tricky greens and high altitude have not put a stop to his bid for a maiden Nedbank Golf Challenge title.

The Ryder Cup star carded a second-round 68 to lift him to six under, only three shots off the lead set by yesterday’s playing partner Angel Cabrera, who put everyone in the shade with a course record 64.

Donald has had 58 combined putts for his two rounds so far and admitted he was coming up short with the flat stick.

“I have struggled a little bit with my pace more than anything. The putting greens seem significantly slower than the greens on the course,” said the Englishman.

“I have been pretty tidy from five or six feet when I have to hole putts for pars or make the odd birdie. It would be nice to make a few more on the weekend.”

The altitude in South Africa means judging distances is slightly more difficult but Donald is able to draw on the experience of winning the 2004 Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre high up in the Swiss mountains.

“The ball definitely flies further so I am just playing in metres (equating them to yards) this week and that seems to work out pretty well,” said Donald.

“The hotter it gets, the more the ball flies. I have been pretty good with my yardages, I have not been off too much.

“My brother (Christian, who caddies for him) has done a good job there and we seemed to have figured it out pretty well.

“It is just a case of maybe holing a few more putts.”

Holing putts was something Cabrera certainly perfected, although he was helped by the fact his enormous power off the tee meant he hit nothing longer than a six iron into any green.

The Argentine, winner of the European Tour’s flagship event the BMW Championship this year, began the day four shots off Darren Clarke’s five-under-par benchmark but by the end of his round had moved two ahead of the Northern Irishman.

Cabrera, the longest hitter on the European Tour, took a driver at nearly every hole and destroyed the testing lay-out with nine birdies and dropped only one shot, at the fourth – ironically one of the shortest holes on the course.

Six birdies in seven holes from the ninth included one at the 603-yard 14th where the Cordoba-born golfer was left with just over 200 yards to the pin after his drive and, unbelievably, he hit an eight iron to within 15 feet and two-putted.

“I am very surprised. I never thought that I was going to set a course record in my first visit to South Africa,” said Cabrera, making his debut in the event after his best-ever season where he finished fifth on the Order of Merit.

Clarke, who began the day with a one-stroke advantage over American Jim Furyk, had three birdies in a round of 70 – which included his first bogey of the week - to finish two behind Cabrera on seven under.

Defending champion Retief Goosen is fifth on five under after a 69 while compatriot Ernie Els continued his comeback from nearly five months out with a knee injury by shooting a 70 to be tied seventh with fellow South African Tim Clark on two under par.