SUN CITY, South Africa — Max Homa maintained a share of the lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge by shooting a 4-under 68 in the second round Friday, with Matthieu Pavon joining him atop the leaderboard.
Homa, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 8, followed his 66 on Thursday with another bogey-free round at the Gary Player Country Club. He hasn’t played since the Ryder Cup in Italy that finished Oct. 1, and where he collected 3½ points to be the highest scorer for the United States in its loss to the Europeans. His last stroke-play event was the Fortinet Championship in mid-September.
Homa said that he is surprised at how well he is playing after his break.
“It’s been nice, the body’s feeling better as the week’s gone on,” Homa said. “I woke up today and felt like a golfer again, so that was nice.
“If you fly 20-odd hours over here, you may as well play some good golf. So it’s nice that I’m doing that.”
Pavon shot a 66 — the joint best score of the round — thanks to an eagle and five birdies to go with a bogey.
“It was really good overall,” he said.
Dan Bradbury shot a 69 to fall 1 shot off the pace, with Nicolai Hojgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen both 2 strokes back.
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood sits 4 shots adrift along with six other players.