Divan van den Heever took the early lead in round two of the KCM Zambia Open when he shot 67 at Nchanga Golf Club in clear conditions on Friday.

Van den Heever was on form with the flat stick and carded six birdies during the second day to take his tally to eight-under-par in the R1,2-million tournament.

“I played solid the whole way through, you know, I’ve been able to make putts while some of the other guys have been struggling,” said Van den Heever. 

He improved his first-round 69 by carding two fewer bogeys and closed the day two strokes clear of Warren Abery, whose second consecutive 69 took his tournament score to six-under-par.

“Weather-wise it’s been perfect for golf, I’ve got no complaints. And I didn’t make a string of birdies, they were far apart,” said Van den Heever.

He struggled up the hill at the par-four sixth and carded the lone bogey of his round, which nullified a two-putt birdie he had made at the par-five fourth.

But Van den Heever went on to two-putt the par-five seventh for birdie and follow it with another at the following hole, a 350-metre par four. He made the turn at two-under.

Van den Heever found the cup in three at the par-four 12^th for a move to three-under.

He birdied again at the par-five 13^th before carding a string of pars until the 18^th. “The wind swirls a bit and it catches you sometimes, but I just didn’t make mistakes today,” said Van den Heever.

At the final hole he made the green in two, sank his final putt for birdie and headed to the clubhouse with a two-stroke lead.

Abery turned at two-under after carding three birdies for one drop on the front stretch.

He had a quiet back nine and only deviated from par to card birdie at the par-five 13^th.

Van den Heever’s clubhouse lead is due to his elimination of errors, and further improvement will make him a difficult player to catch. 

Golf Scores (RSA unless specified):

-8 - Divan van den Heever 69 67

-6 - Warren Abery 69 69

-5 - Dean Burmester 72 67, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 72 67

-4 - Prinavin Nelson 70 70

-2 - Mark Williams 75 67, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 70, Andre Cruse 73 69, Bennie van der Merwe 72 70

-1 - Justin Harding 72 71, Louis Moolman 70 73, Allan Versfeld 71 72

Par - Desvonde Botes 75 69, Merrick Bremner 72 72, Jacques Blaauw 72 72

+1 - Deo Akope (UGA) 72 73, Morne Buys 76 69, Oliver Bekker 72 73, Derik Ferreira 73 72

+2 - Reggie Adams 74 72, Bryce Easton 73 73

+3 - Patrick Mwendapole (ZAM) 74 73, Thabang Simon 71 76, Grant Muller 75 72, TC Charamba (ZIM) 73 74, Matthew Carvell 73 74, Alan Michell 73 74, Michael McGrady 75 72

+5 - Mukuka Mwango (ZAM) (AMA) 76 73, Wynand Dingle 75 74

+6 - Dayne Moore (ZAM) 72 78, Julius Kamalizeni (ZIM) 75 75, Colin Nel 75 75, Tyrone Ryan 77 73

+7 - Andre van Zyl 79 72, Johan Etsebeth 75 76, Mohammad Mandhu (ZIM) 74 77, Kelvin Phiri (ZAM) 77 74, Day Muyambo (ZIM) 77 74

+8 - Louis de Jager 76 76

+10 - Garry Hill 80 74, Attie Schwartzel 78 76

+11 - Stephen Mbewe (ZAM) 80 75

+13 - John Nkandu (ZAM) 78 79

+15 - Fidelis Malembeka (ZAM) 81 78

+19 - Fred Ndhlovu (ZAM) (AMA) 84 79, Irfan Patel (ZAM) (AMA) 81 82

+21 - Kelly Munkombwe (ZAM) (AMA) 84 81