Daniel Brown retains lead as Tom McKibbin undone by horror finish in South Africa

A horror finish from Tom McKibbin saw him slip to second spot to tied-ninth at the midway point at the SDC Championship in South Africa.

The Down golfer - who won the European Open in Germany last June - was on course for a superb round on Friday, with five birdies and just one dropped strokes in his first 12 holes.

Things got substantially better with an eagle-3 on the sixth (his 15th), after which he jumped to nine-under, now standing just two adrift of leader Daniel Brown, and in a sole possession of second spot.

However, much of the good work was undone with a disastrous finish, the 21-year old recording a bogey, followed by a double-bogey, followed by another bogey on the last to slip six shots behind after a disappointing 70.

Englishman Brown leads by three strokes heading into the weekend.

Brown, who only arrived at the host venue in Eastern Cape on Wednesday afternoon following significant travel disruption, carded an eagle and two birdies in the final four holes of his second round to follow up his opening 66 with a 67 and reach 11 under par.

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Shaun Norris – the first-round co-leader – and his fellow South African Robin Williams were Brown's nearest challengers on eight under.

Brown, who had started the day one shot off the lead before hitting the front, said: "I had a really good finish.

"I’ve played really good the last two days but something really clicked in that stretch where I kept hitting it close, which is nice."

Scotland’s Connor Syme was in a tie for sixth on six under after his second-round 71.