Howell, who was second at this tournament past year, carded an eagle and four birdies on an unblemished scorecard of six under par to lie one stroke behind first-round pacesetter Justin Walters at the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club.
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His back nine appeared to be proceeding uneventfully until Howell roared into life with a birdie and the 14th followed by an eagle at the long 15th on his way to returning home in 32.
Williams’ score was particularly impressive given he made double bogey at the seventh having gone five under through six, a cluster of three birdies in the last four holes further propelling him up the leaderboard.
After reaching the turn in 33, McGowan birdied the 10th and holed his second shot to the 12th for an eagle, before picking up another birdie on the 14th and holing from 15 feet for eagle on the par-five 15th to cover the back nine in 29.
“I played very well, I’m playing on confidence at the moment, but the lesson for tomorrow is to focus on every shot”.
Chile’s Felipe Aguilar had matched McGowan’s 67 in the opening round and added a flawless 65 on Friday to share second place on 11 under with England’s Anthony Wall and South African pair Haydn Porteous and Jean Hugo.
Aguilar and Hugo each carded six-under-par 65 on the West Course, Porteous was five-under there, and Wall went five-under on the East Course.
Playing the Joburg Open for the first time, two-time former British Open champion Ernie Els shot a one-under-par 70 on the West Course. Missing getting my European Tour card through the Challenge Tour, I thought maybe I need an extra year on the Challenge Tour to just touch up the short game and my game plan around the course.
“I think I needed to be a few shots better on the front nine to even consider it”, said McGowan “but I’ve been close before in Madrid, shot 60, so you never know”.
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“The EurAsia Cup is a great tournament in its own right, so we want to play as well as we can and we want to try and win on Sunday”, said Lowry.
