Jbe’ Kruger rode his continued good form on Friday to take the second round clubhouse lead of the R2.65-million Vodacom Championship with a six-under-par 66.

It was his second consecutive good round, following his opening 65, and he had a two-stroke lead over first-round leader Branden Grace, Tjaart van der Walt and Anton Haig.

“I’m just holding tight for the ride,” said Kruger, who won his maiden title on the Sunshine Tour last year in the Zambia Open.

“I hit the ball a lot better today than I did yesterday which helped. I missed maybe two greens today, while I missed five or six yesterday,” he added.

His 66 was one of the best rounds of the morning, matched by Van der Walt and Haig in the leading group.

Van der Walt started his round on the back nine, and he came home in a superb 30, with an eagle three on the fourth and four consecutive birdies to wrap things up.

“A light comes on for me,” he said. “I just gave myself a talking to and played nicely coming home. “Momentum’s on my side. I hope I can take it into the weekend,” he added.

Grace putted well in his opening 64, but had to wait until his 11th hole of the day – the second – for his first birdie. “I hit the ball the same as yesterday, but the only difference was the putts didn’t go in,” he said.

“I didn’t feel very comfy on the greens today. I just felt the stroke wasn’t the same and it’s something I’m going to work on now.”

Haig, on the other hand was happy with his putting for the first time in a while. “My putter was terrible the last two weeks, but today I had 28 putts and yesterday, I had about 29,” he said. “When I get the putter going, I really play well.”