Homa (68) keep share of Nebank lead; JT (66) four back

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 on Friday, with Matthieu Pavon joining him atop the leaderboard.

Homa, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 8, followed up 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 3 1/2 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 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,” the Frenchman said.

Dan Bradbury shot a 69 to fall one shot off the pace, with Nicolai Hojgaard and Thorbjorn Olesen both two strokes back.

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood sits four shots adrift along with six other players, including Justin Thomas, who shot 66 on Friday.