EAST LONDON, January 8 – Trevor Fisher Jnr admitted he was nervous after his second-round seven-under-par 66 held up for the halfway lead of the €1-million Africa Open at the 6,191-metre (6,770-yard) par-73 East London Golf Club.

The tournament is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour, and is the third event in the 2010 Race to Dubai.

Fisher, a four-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, has yet to win on the lucrative summer swing and was starting to feel the pressure of leading one of those rich events: "We're up against the boys from Europe and you see your name up there… I'm not going to lie, it's nerve-wracking."

He kept his nerves in check enough to card his second consecutive seven-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Sweden's Patrik Sjoland.

Sjoland managed to regain his European Tour card at the end of the year, and is looking to get a good start to his year after just 15 tournaments last year – 12 of them before his wife fell ill and he had to be at home an hour out of Goteborg to look after their children.

His wife is getting better, and so is the golf. "The swing feels a bit rusty and not really comfortable," he said. "I haven't played tournament golf since Q-School five weeks ago, but it's getting better each day, so we'll see."

Fisher made two eagles in his round, despite not getting a good night's sleep: "I almost didn't wake up, so I went out there and I didn't expect too much. I started off with an eagle and I sand a massive putt on the second hole and I just got it going nicely," he said.

The opening eagle came with a 30-foot putt from off the green. The putt on two was even better: "I hit it just front of the green. I sank that putt; that was a monster putt, at least 20 meters."

He got his second eagle on the 11^th with a sweet two-iron approach to within five feet and he knocked in the putt.

Sjoland was one shot clear of Thomas Aiken, who carded a bogey-free six-under 67 to be 12-under for the tournament.

"The key here is to stay patient, hit as many greens as possible and if the putts drop, you are going to be there at the end on Sunday," said Aiken.

He was joined by Keith Horne, who made just one bogey with his five birdies and an eagle in a round that somehow lacked the drama of the other leaders but was no less effective.

"I've been playing well for the last two events, except the first round of the SA Open," said Horne. "I just haven't been getting the scores, so I'm pleased to be where I am now. It's good to be in contention."

They were Aiken was two shots clear of England's Justin Walters, who recorded his second successive 68 for a two-round total of 136 – a position he shared with Deane Pappas and Bradford Vaughan.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke bogeyed his final hole for the second successive day. In the second round, his three-under 70 left him in a share of 16^th on seven-under-par.

Two other marquee names failed to make it into play over the weekend: Nick Dougherty of England and New Zealand's Danny Lee both used the new grooves – the Sunshine Tour players are permitted to use the old ones until August – and both felt they contributed to their downfall.

Dougherty carded an even-par 73 to finish three-under at halfway, while Lee shot his second consecutive four-over to crash out at eight-over for the tournament.

Scores (RSA unless specified):

 132 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 66 66

133 - Patrik Sjoland (SWE) 66 67

134 - Thomas Aiken 67 67, Keith Horne 67 67

136 - Justin Walters (ENG) 68 68, Deane Pappas 68 68, Bradford Vaughan 69 67, Klas Eriksson (SWE) 70 66

137 - Charl Schwartzel 67 70, James Kingston 68 69, Jaco Van Zyl 69 68, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 69 68, Louis de Jager 69 68, Jarmo Sandelin (SWE) 69 68, Richard Sterne 66 71, Charl Coetzee 68 69, Jbe' Kruger 69 68

138 - James Morrison (ENG) 68 70, Sion E Bebb (WAL) 70 68, Titch Moore 66 72, Julien Quesne (FRA) 71 67, Tjaart van der Walt 67 71, Michiel Bothma 69 69, Neil Schietekat 69 69

139 - Marco Ruiz (PAR) 69 70, Tyrone van Aswegen 72 67, Darren Clarke (NIR) 69 70, Miles Tunnicliff (ENG) 68 71, Andre Cruse 68 71, Robert Coles (ENG) 68 71, Paulo Pinto (ARG) 69 70, Jacques Blaauw 69 70, Jake Roos 68 71, Steven Jeppesen (SWE) 72 67, Oliver Bekker 69 70, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 68 71, Chris Swanepoel 71 68, TC Charamba (ZIM) 72 67

140 - Peter Baker (ENG) 70 70, Martin Maritz 69 71, Branden Grace 70 70, Michael Hoey (NIR) 68 72, Prinavin Nelson 71 69, Joost Luiten (NED) 69 71, Tyrone Mordt 70 70, Garry Houston (WAL) 69 71, George Coetzee 68 72, Desvonde Botes 70 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 74 66, Jose-Filipe Lima (POR) 68 72, Oliver Fisher (ENG) 70 70

141 - Thabang Simon 70 71, Rick Kulacz (AUS) 72 69, Brandon Pieters 72 69, Benn Barham (ENG) 71 70, Dawie Van der Walt 73 68, Scott Hend (AUS) 72 69, Mark F Haastrup (DEN) 66 75, Willie van der Merwe 71 70, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 71 70, Anthony Michael 71 70, Matthew Zions (AUS) 72 69, Steven O'Hara (SCO) 71 70, Carl Suneson (ESP) 69 72, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 68 73, Doug McGuigan 74 67, Clodomiro Carranza (ARG) 70 71, Reggie Adams 70 71

Missed the cut:-

142 - Andrew McArthur (SCO) 71 71, Phillip Price (WAL) 72 70, Ryan Tipping 70 72, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 70 72, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 70 72, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 71 71, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 68 74

143 - Andrew Marshall (ENG) 70 73, Jamie Elson (ENG) 72 71, Ulrich van den Berg 72 71, Stuart Anderson (CAN) 71 72, Alex Haindl 71 72, Julien Guerrier (FRA) 71 72, Clinton Whitelaw 70 73, Martin Wiegele (AUT) 73 70, Johan du Buisson 76 67, Stuart Manley (WAL) 74 69, Fredrik Ohlsson (SWE) 72 71, Jean Hugo 71 72, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 71 72, Hennie Otto 69 74, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 75 68, Christian Ries 72 71, Callum Macaulay (SCO) 72 71

144 - Simon Khan (ENG) 74 70, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 71 73, Gary Boyd (ENG) 70 74, Dion Fourie 68 76, Chris Williams 72 72, Francois Calmels (FRA) 73 71, Darren Fichardt 70 74, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 71 73, James Kamte 77 67, Mark Murless 70 74, Jamie McLeary (SCO) 71 73

145 - Mark Fensham 73 72, Alan McLean (SCO) 71 74, Christiaan Basson 70 75, Andrew Curlewis 73 72, Henrik Nystrom (SWE) 75 70, Kenneth Ferrie (ENG) 69 76, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 70 75, Grant Muller 71 74

146 - PH McIntyre 72 74, Andrew Tampion (AUS) 73 73, Scott Dunlap (USA) 73 73, Heinrich Bruiners 73 73, Louis Moolman 72 74, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 74 72, Steve Basson 70 76, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 73 73, Mervyn Galant 71 75, Jean-Francois Lucquin (FRA) 72 74, John Parry (ENG) 74 72, David Lynn (ENG) 72 74, Stephen Gallacher (SCO) 70 76, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 74 72

147 - Richard McEvoy (ENG) 76 71, Andrew Georgiou 71 76, Shaun Norris 73 74, Jaco Ahlers 72 75, Daniel Greene 72 75

148 - Marcel Siem (GER) 76 72, Gary Murphy (IRL) 75 73

149 - Peter Whiteford(SCO) 72 77, Brett Liddle 76 73, James Ruth (ENG) 74 75, Simon Thornton (IRL) 74 75, Roope Kakko (FIN) 73 76, Gary Clark (ENG) 73 76, Phillip Archer (ENG) 70 79, Nick Dougherty (ENG) 76 73

150 - Niall Kearney (IRL) 73 77, Keenan Davidse 76 74, Warren Abery 72 78, Tyrone Ferreira 71 79, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 72 78

151 - Wayne Westner 75 76, Joakim Haeggman(SWE) 73 78

152 - Des Terblanche 76 76, Lee Slattery (ENG) 80 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 77 75

153 - Merrick Bremner 80 73

154 - Danny Lee (NZL) 77 77

158 - Anton Haig 79 79, Callie Burger 79 79

RTD - Mark Brown (NZL) 75 RTD

DSQ - Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR) DSQ