Riekus Nortje secured his spot atop the leaderboard on Friday at the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open when he shot a perfect second round five-under 67 to total 12-under-par at Nkana Golf Club.
Starting on the 10th, Nortje racked up four birdies on that nine, but things began to slow a bit on the homeward stretch. He only managed a single birdie there, but that round takes him right to the top.
‘I feel pretty good,’ he said, ‘It’s always nice working in a bogey-free round. It gives me quite a bit of a momentum for tomorrow.’
As has been alluded to by so many players this week, the Nkana layout is narrow and challenging, yet very rewarding if you play your shots right, and Nortje was pleased not to drop a shot today. ‘Today I didn’t make a lot of mistakes and when I did make a mistake, I corrected it,’ he said, ‘and, I know two shots is not a lot, but it is always nice to be leading. But around this course anything can happen and I will still need to work hard and stick to my game.’
Also making serious strides in Kitwe was Alex Haindl, who shot a flawless eight-under-par 64 to climb to second on the leaderboard ahead of moving day. Four birdies in his first five holes gave Haindl some space to play under less pressure, then he made four more on the homeward nine to take his total to 10-under for the week to leapfrog Ockie Strydom, who occupies third spot.
‘It was nice and solid today and I hit the ball a little bit better today,’ Haindl said after his round, ‘I was just a bit scruffy with my iron shots yesterday; missed a few tee shots, I just missed a few that you shouldn’t be missing, but today I drove it a little bit better and my iron shots were better.’
After a birdie-laden round, Haindl admits, ‘I will sleep a little bit better tonight.’
Strydom, on the other hand, had an indifferent round compared to yesterday’s round. He made four birdies, of which two were cancelled out by the pair of bogeys he made on 13 and 16 to finish on two-under 70. He confesses to not having struck the ball as well as he did yesterday, but is happy to be still up there on the leaderboard.
‘Look, today was a slow start,’ Strydom said, ‘I didn’t strike the ball as good as I did yesterday on the back nine. But I managed to make a couple of birdies to finish on 70, but I will take it.’
Veteran Titch Moore moved up to a share of fourth with overnight leader Oliver Bekker and Rourke van der Spuy on six-under-par for the tournament. Making up the top-10 was member of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Irvin Mazibuko, who is tied at five-under with six others, including Jean Hugo and Chris Lloyd.
Second round leaderboard:
132 – Riekus Nortje 65 67
134 – Alex Haindl 70 64
135 – Ockie Strydom 65 70
138 – Titch Moore 70 68, Oliver Bekker 64 74, Rourke van der Spuy 72 66
139 – Irvin Mazibuko 71 68, Jean Hugo 66 73, Chris Lloyd 69 70, Colin Nel 68 71, Adilson Da Silva 69 70, Combrinck Smit 69 70
141 – Doug McGuigan 72 69, Ulrich van den Berg 68 73, Danie Van Niekerk 73 68, Jbe’ Kruger 70 71, Rhys West 70 71, JJ Senekal 72 69, Madalitso Muthiya 70 71, Teaghan Gauche 71 70
142 – Jean-Paul Strydom 73 69, Damian Naicker 71 71, Jake Roos 70 72, Andrew Curlewis 72 70, Louis de Jager 73 69
143 – Luke Jerling 77 66, Tyrone Ryan 73 70
144 – Andrew Odoh 72 72, Jacques Kruyswijk 72 72, Ruan de Smidt 73 71, Coert Groenewald 74 70, Merrick Bremner 67 77, Vaughn Groenewald 73 71, Daniel van Tonder 72 72, JC Ritchie 72 72
145 – Chris Swanepoel 73 72, Ryan Cairns 71 74, Martin Rohwer 71 74, Steve Surry 72 73, Lyle Rowe 71 74, Peter Karmis 73 72, Neil Schietekat 73 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 73, Andre Nel 72 73
146 – Jason Viljoen 74 72, MJ Viljoen 71 75, Zack Byrd 74 72, N.J. Arnoldi 70 76, Jared Harvey 72 74
147 – Herman Loubser 76 71, Kyle Pilgrim 72 75, Andre de Decker 76 71, Theunis Spangenberg 75 72
148 – Justin Harding 73 75, Andrew Georgiou 75 73, Roy Da Costa 73 75, Dwayne Basson 75 73, Gabriel Chibale 71 77, Damon Stephenson 72 76, Michael Palmer 75 73, Richie O’Donovan 74 74
Missed the cut:-
149 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi 76 73, Stuart Smith 73 76, Jason Smith 73 76, Mark Williams 73 76, Christiaan Basson 76 73, Sean Bradley 76 73, Matthew Spacey 77 72, Luke Joy 76 73, Martin Rominger 75 74, Jason Froneman 74 75, Desne Van Den Bergh 75 74, Patrick Mwendapole 79 70
150 – Sipho Bujela 75 75, Jacquin Hess 75 75, Ryan Tipping 75 75, Anthony Michael 76 74, Tyrone Ferreira 75 75, Altaaf Bux 74 76, Keenan Davidse 74 76, Scott Campbell 75 75
151 – Heinrich Bruiners 75 76, Breyten Meyer 75 76, Timothy Sondashi 74 77, Aaron Simfukwe Jnr 78 73, Neil O’Briain 76 75, Wynand Dingle 74 77
152 – Aubrey Beckley 70 82, Greg Bentley 75 77, Toto Thimba 75 77, Matthew Carvell 75 77, Wallie Coetsee 76 76, Steven Ferreira 76 76, PH McIntyre 77 75, Gerard du Plooy 77 75, Sydney Wemba 74 78, Andrew van der Knaap 76 76, Jaco Prinsloo 80 72, Stephen Ferreira 77 75
153 – Charl Coetzee 76 77, Jake Redman 75 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 75 78, Jeff Hopkins 78 75
154 – Morne Buys 74 80, Michael Scholz 76 78, Antonio Costa 75 79, Matias Calderon 75 79, Paul Chidale 81 73
155 – Chris Cannon 75 80, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 74 81, Beza Daka 82 73
156 – Francois Coetzee 79 77, Stefan Engell Andersen 75 81, Jason Diab 81 75, Arthur Horne 79 77
157 – Peter Munyinya 76 81, Kelly Tembo 80 77
158 – Kelvin Phiri 77 81, Jaco Mouton 77 81
159 – Dayne Moore 81 78, Denmark Mulambo 82 77
160 – Boyd Kapalamoto 81 79, Matengele Kaira 81 79, Brian Gondo 79 81
161 – Moses Chewe 84 77
162 – Mukuka Mwango Jnr 87 75
163 – Gibson Mutoya 82 81
165 – Geoffrey Banda 87 78
167 – Jackson Simukonda 85 82, Cosmas Mufaya 83 84
168 – Abel Zulu 85 83
171 – Stalion Daka 86 85
172 – Kelvin Chibuye 89 83
176 – Humphrey Chisanga 89 87
RTD – Abhinav Walia 77 RTD, Akil Yousuf RTD RTD
