Merrick Bremner shot an impressive six-under-par 64 in the second round of the Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge to take his total to seven-under for the week and share the lead with Vaughn Groenewald ahead of the final round.
Bremner started on the 10th and made birdies on 12, 14 and 16 with no bogeys on that nine. His homeward stretch was similar as he made four more birdies, with a dropped shot on the par-three fourth threatening to halt his progress on moving day.
While admitting to playing a few bad shots earlier on in the round, Bremner was happy with the work he put in in round two at Wild Coast. ‘I hit a couple of strange shots earlier on,’ he noted.
‘But, other than that I was pretty solid from tee to green. The wind was similar to yesterday, same direction and a lot stronger. It doesn’t really affect you that much. You just have to stick to your plan and execute,’ he said.
Groenewald played a flawless five-under-par round as he didn’t drop a single shot in what he said might be the best round of golf he’s played. He admitted, however, that it was tough out there and as a result he didn’t make as many putts as he would have liked, but is happy with his ball-striking.
‘Look, it was tough out there,’ he said.
‘It feels like a train has hit me now because of all the concentrating. It was shot-by-shot. I think it was one of the best rounds I’ve ever played. Even with not making a lot of putts, the ball striking was great the whole round.’
Oliver Bekker takes up third spot on six-under-par after he signed for a five-under-par 65. He also shot a bogey-free round in which he made birdies on the first, third, seventh, 12th and 16th holes.
‘Today the wind is blowing, the greens are tricky but I made a couple of par saves,’ Bekker said.
‘I hit a lot of greens today so that kind of made it easier.’
Alex Haindl lies fourth on five-under, while PH McIntyre, Ockie Strydom and Neil Schietekat lie fifth on four-under. Member of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Keenan Davidse is on three-under and shares eighth place with Daniel van Tonder.
Tyrone Ryan, Christiaan Basson, Darren Fichardt, Doug McGuigan, MJ Viljoen and Tyrone Ferreira are all tied at 10th on two-under for the week.
Second round leaderboard:
133 – Merrick Bremner 69 64, Vaughn Groenewald 68 65
134 – Oliver Bekker 69 65
135 – Alex Haindl 68 67
136 – PH McIntyre 67 69, Ockie Strydom 67 69, Neil Schietekat 70 66
137 – Keenan Davidse 69 68, Daniel van Tonder 68 69
138 – Tyrone Ryan 68 70, Christiaan Basson 68 70, Darren Fichardt 71 67, Doug McGuigan 69 69, MJ Viljoen 72 66, Tyrone Ferreira 71 67
139 – Titch Moore 70 69, Madalitso Muthiya 68 71, Jean Hugo 69 70, Hennie du Plessis 70 69
140 – Jacques P de Villiers 69 71, Jared Harvey 68 72, Andrew Curlewis 70 70, Justin Harding 69 71, Wallie Coetsee 70 70, Andrew van der Knaap 68 72, Louis de Jager 72 68, Lyle Rowe 70 70
141 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 68, Michael Palmer 71 70, James Kamte 69 72, Luke Jerling 70 71, Bryandrew Roelofsz 71 70, Mark Williams 72 69
142 – Chris Cannon 73 69, Chris Swanepoel 70 72, Ulrich van den Berg 71 71, Desne Van Den Bergh 73 69, Mark Murless 70 72, Callum Mowat 73 69, Gert Myburgh 70 72, Andre Nel 71 71
Missed the cut:
143 – Allan Versfeld 71 72, Lindani Ndwandwe 71 72, Jason Froneman 74 69, Altaaf Bux 69 74, Martin Rohwer 75 68, Jonathan Agren 75 68, Michael Hollick 73 70, Matias Calderon 73 70
144 – Rourke van der Spuy 70 74, Ruan de Smidt 70 74, JC Ritchie 69 75, Jaco Prinsloo 73 71, Jacquin Hess 70 74
145 – Kyle Barker 76 69, Antonio Rosado 72 73, Colin Nel 73 72, JJ Senekal 73 72, Stefan Engell Andersen 74 71, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 73 72, Jeff Inglis 72 73, Omar Sandys 70 75, Anthony Michael 74 71, Steven Ferreira 72 73
146 – Jaco Mouton 78 68, Ruan Huysamen 72 74, Kyle Pilgrim 72 74, Peter Karmis 74 72, Breyten Meyer 75 71, Andre De Decker 75 71, Kevin Stone 75 71
147 – Matthew Spacey 73 74, Makhetha Mazibuko 75 72, Danie Van Niekerk 74 73, Francois Coetzee 78 69, Gerard du Plooy 74 73
148 – Stephen Ferreira 74 74, Jake Redman 72 76, Leorin Pillay 72 76
149 – Herman Loubser 77 72, Ryan Tipping 74 75, Johan van der Wath 78 71, Divan Gerber 76 73
150 – Rhys West 78 72, Combrinck Smit 73 77, N.J. Arnoldi 73 77, Drikus van der Walt 76 74
151 – Stuart Smith 76 75, Andrew Odoh 75 76, Jason Viljoen 73 78, Wynand Dingle 74 77, Theunis Spangenberg 75 76
152 – Aubrey Beckley 71 81, Heinrich Bruiners 76 76, Matthew Carvell 73 79, Thanda Mavundla 75 77
153 – Dayne Moore 78 75, Greg Bentley 72 81, Irvin Mazibuko 79 74, Jason Smith 75 78
154 – Antonio Costa 82 72
155 – Jason Roets 78 77
156 – Teaghan Gauche 79 77
157 – Cameron Esau 71 86
158 – Wayne Stroebel 78 80, Quintin Wilsnach 81 77
159 – Damon Stephenson 81 78
161 – Michael Green 82 79, Dongkwan Kim 81 80
163 – Cody Martin 79 84
171 – Dylan Docherty 82 89, Shane Granger 88 83
172 – Cosmas Mufaya 81 91
