Santos continues good start to 2013
Portugal’s Ricardo Santos continued his confident start to 2013 with a second round 66 to move into contention ahead of the cut in the €1-million Africa Open Golf Challenge.
Santos won the Madeira Islands Open for one of his two top-10 finishes on last year’s European Tour, but it was an otherwise quiet year for him – and two top 10s in the three ‘desert swing’ events and a third in last week’s Joburg Open have turned things right around.
“I’ve played well over the last four weeks,” said the 30-year-old who is currently 11th on the Race to Dubai and ranked number 139 in the world. “It’s really nice and I feel comfortable with my game and confident. I just try to do my best on every shot and see what happens from there.”
In last week’s Joburg Open, he matched winner Richard Sterne’s closing round of eight-under 64 to finish eight shots back of the champion, and just one behind runner-up Charl Schwartzel.
It was a flawless round for Santos until his final hole of the day, when he bogeyed the eighth after starting his second round on the ninth.
“It’s a shame to finish with a bogey, but still a good round. I played really solid today,” he said.
And he more than made up for that dropped shot with an eagle three on the first. “I hit a good drive over the right bunker and then a four-iron and had a six-metre putt and made it,” he said.
Given his fast finish in Johannesburg, the leaders would do well to keep half an eye on him around East London Golf Club over the weekend. “It’s always good when you’re in contention, especially when you missed the cut a year before,” he said.
