Yorkshire golf: Jamie Bower climbs to sixth in Cape Province Open as he targets third win in South Africa

Bower shot a five-under-par 67, aided by an eagle 3, to pull himself up to sixth place after two rounds of the Cape Province Open at Kingswood Golf Estate.

He followed his weekend victory in the Southern Cape Open - that saw him rise to No 40 in the world amateur rankings - with an opening one-under-par 71.

He then dipped to six under overall after his second round to sit two shots off the halfway lead.

The Meltham GC player is headed by five South Africans, with Herman Loubser, of Threewaterskloof GC, at the top of the leaderboard on 136 (65 71).

Bower opened his tournament inauspiciously at the 10th hole on Tuesday with a bogey and closed his ‘outward’ nine with another at 18.

They sandwiched a birdie at the 13th and he added two more birdies, at holes five and six, for his 71.

Round two saw a reversal of fortune from day one as he began with a birdie, adding another at hole five.

He dropped a shot at six, but opened the back nine with consecutive birdies before eagling the 459-yard par-5 14th from 10ft.

Bower, who won the Gauteng North Open during the first week of his tour of South Africa, where he is part of England Golf men’s squad, parred the last four holes. This, he conceded, was a bit of a let-down.

“I was very disappointed to only finish five under (for the day),” he said.

“ I hit it just off the back edge in two on the par-5 16th and came off with par, and I missed good chances for birdies on 15 and 17.”

However, he reflected on 67 being a good score given some indifferent play on the front nine.

“I only played well for nine holes today, the back nine,” he said. “I played very poorly on the front nine and managed to scramble pars from a lot of bad situations, so all in all it was a good day.”