Bobbi Brown converted her love of the Royal Johannesburg East Course into a fine six-under 66 on Wednesday in the second round of the GolfRSA International Amateur Championship to take a two-stroke lead after 36 holes.
It was something of an up-and-down affair on the front nine as she started with a birdie, followed it with a bogey, and then did the same on the 3rd and 4th holes.
But a birdie on the 6th got her back into red figures, and then she put the hammer down with an eagle-three on the par-five 8th.
She dropped a shot on the 11th, but then came home with a flourish, making four birdies in the final seven holes to move to six under par for the tournament.
“I love it here,” she said of the Royal Johannesburg East Course. “I just recently became a member here. It’s one of my favourite places to come to. We were here for the SA Amateur like five years ago.
“I met my caddie Lovelace here, and he’s still caddying for me today. I really love it here. It’s one of my favourite places in Johannesburg.”
She expressed that love with a deadly driver off the tees, and then she was accurate in to the greens to give herself some chances.
“I was really good from about 150 out,” said Brown, who teed it up in the first GolfRSA SA Swing event straight off a 10-shot victory in the Eastern Province/Border Women’s Stroke Play at Humewood.
“I was able to roll some putts in with a change in putter from the armlock one I was using. Now that I’m back to a normal putter, I don’t feel like I’m missing from two to three feet anymore.
“Getting in the right position off the tee is very important. There are lots of par-fours that are playing quite short, and I am playing them quite aggressively. As long as I could get my short game going, I thought I could get a low number today.”
Her eagle came from both local knowledge and getting things better after she made birdie on the eighth in the first round.
“I kept the tee shot away from the fairway bunker I hit yesterday, and then I hit the approach perfectly to inside three feet and made the putt,” she said.
At six under, the Western Province rising star was two strokes clear of Olivia Wood, who signed for a three-under 69 to move to four under.
The KwaZulu-Natal golfer made a bogey early on, made up for that with birdies on five and 12, and then underlined her solid play with a fine eagle-three on the tough closing 18th.
Two strokes behind Wood, Lourenda Steyn carded a second-successive one-under 71 to occupy third place.
Steyn is on a dizzying tear at the moment and is shaping up to add yet another notch to her belt this week. The 15-year-old Gauteng North teen catapulted to 10th in the GolfRSA Open Amateur and eighth in junior rankings in a breakthrough season last year that saw her notch her first provincial victory in the North West Women’s Open Championship and rack up seven more top 10 finishes.
The first-round leader, Reunion’s Melliyal Schmitt, battled to a five-over 77, and she was in fifth place on two over through 36 holes.
In the men’s section, first-round leader Astin Arthur followed his seven-under 65 with a two-under 70 to move to nine under par at the halfway stage. That put him in a share of second with fellow-countryman Tristan Leonard, who followed his opening 69 with a six-under 66.
They were both two strokes behind the leader, Octave Bailo. The Frenchman was heading for a bogey-free round before dropping a shot on the closing 18th. But his eight birdies before that – four on each nine – were enough to take him to 11 under par for the tournament.
Leonard’s 66 was also spoiled by just a single bogey, on the 16th, as he racked up seven birdies. Arthur also only dropped a single shot, but he worked much harder for his score in the second round and was able to make just three birdies.
Sean Paxton and Devon Valentine were in fourth and fifth after rounds of 66 and 67 respectively.
In the team competition, Team South Africa Men kept their 10-stroke lead over Team South Africa Juniors and sit comfortably at 18 under par. Dian Kruger and Jordan Burnand chipped in with rounds of 69 and 71 to add to Arthur’s two under. Johndre Ludick, Roelof Craig and Dewan de Bruin contributed 69, 70 and 71 to the Juniors’ tally.
The GolfRSA President Team was on five under, well clear of Team Scotland on 12 over and Team Reunion on 35 over.
In the women’s team contest, Kesha Louw contributed a one-over 73 and Zane Kleynhans a 74 to move them to three over. The local favourites are 10 clear of Team Reunion, with the GolfRSA President Team on 25 over par.
Photo: GolfRSA
