Scotland’s golfers enjoyed a shimmering day in the Rainbow Nation yesterday as Scott Jamieson moved into a share of the halfway lead at the European Tour’s Tshwane Open in Pretoria while Liam Johnston won the African Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Leopard Creek.

Jamieson, whose only tour win came on South African soil in the 2013 Nelson Mandela Championship, bolstered his assault on a second title as he packed seven birdies into a six-under 65 to finish in a tie at the top with Sweden’s Alexander Bjork on a 10-under 132. The leading duo were heading into the weekend just a stroke clear of Englishman James Morrison. “I struggled a bit tee to green last week, but it seems to have clicked here,” said Jamieson, who illuminated his card with four birdies in five holes from the fifth.

Duncan Stewart (72), Richie Ramsay (70) and Marc Warren (70) all sit on the four-under mark but Scott Henry missed his seventh cut in a row after a damaging 76 saw him fall short of the mark by a stroke.

On the amateur front, meanwhile, Dumfries man Johnston was celebrating the biggest win of his career as he led a Scottish one-two-three in the African event.

Johnston, who reached the quarter-finals of last week’s South African Amateur Championship, had been two shots behind 54-hole leader Christo Lamprecht but pounced on the back nine as his 16-year-old title rival stumbled to a crippling brace of double-bogeys. Johnston closed with a one-under 71 for an eight-under 280 and won by a shot from fellow Doonhamer Connor Syme with Renfrewshire’s Jamie Stewart taking third on 282.

I’m absolutely ecstatic,” said Johnston. “I feel like I finally got the money off my back. I won a lot of team events when I was at the University of Tennessee, but I never won an individual title. I can’t begin to describe how amazing it feels to land this victory.”

On the women’s scene, Inbee Park, the former world No 1, was leading the HSBC Women’s Champions event in Singapore by a shot with a 10-under tally.