Merrick Bremner book-ended his round with two solid par-saves on Friday, but seven birdies for the second day in a row saw him to a total of 14-under-par and a five-shot lead after the second round of the R1-million Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Humewood Golf Club.
His second-successive 65 wasn’t the best round of the day however, as Swede Jonathan Agren fired a superb eight-under 64 to take up second position ahead of Saturday’s final round, albeit a long way back from Bremner.
‘I got off to a solid start,’ said Bremner. ‘I hit a couple of good shots down the first and my ball ended up over the green for some reason. I made a good up and down there.
‘On the 18th, I got distracted over the tee shot and I didn’t back off and regroup. So I hit a bad tee shot, and then I had a tough bunker-shot after my approach. I hit it perfectly to about three feet and that was a good par-save.
‘Then I just kept on creating chances, making good swing after good swing, keeping good focus and I just let the birdies come.’
For Bremner, the two great rounds were not entirely a surprise, even though they came on the back of a decision to keep driver out of play as much as possible. ‘I wouldn’t say as much as possible,’ he laughed. ‘If I feel confident enough to hit it on a tee shot, then I’d hit it. If I felt a little nervy on it, then I’d rein it in and hit something I felt confident I could get in play.
‘I think the mental side of things is a big factor this week. I’ve had my thoughts pretty clear now for the last couple of weeks. I had a good look at myself, and went and spoke to my psychologist to try and get back in the game. I’ve got the ability to perform at a higher level and that’s what I’m trying to showcase.
‘I feel like I’ve been swinging really well – the best I’ve probably swung the club in my career – and the results just weren’t coming. I know patience is what you need and it’s very difficult to stay patient when you feel you’re playing well and you’re missing cuts. So I’m just taking it one shot at a time and I’ll let the result take care of itself.
‘I’ve spent quite a bit of time working on things. I figured out that my new irons were slightly heavier than my old ones – I ordered them that way. I tried them for three weeks and they were obviously wrong because I missed a bunch of cuts. I put the old sticks back in the bag this week and they seem to be doing the trick.’
Scores:
130 – Merrick Bremner 65 65
135 – Jonathan Agren 71 64
136 – Jacquin Hess 67 69, Clinton Grobler 70 66, Ruan de Smidt 69 67
137 – Philip Geerts 70 67
138 – Steve Surry 68 70, MJ Viljoen 71 67
139 – Ruan Conradie 69 70, Andrew Curlewis 72 67, Riekus Nortje 70 69, Ryan Tipping 72 67, Lyle Rowe 71 68
140 – Christiaan Basson 70 70, Martin Rohwer 72 68, Doug McGuigan 71 69, Ockie Strydom 68 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 73 67, Jacques Blaauw 71 69, Daniel van Tonder 70 70, Luke Jerling 71 69
141 – James Hart du Preez 69 72, Fredrik From 75 66, Wallie Coetsee 70 71, Daniel Greene 70 71, JJ Senekal 69 72, Allister de Kock 69 72
142 – Dylan Naidoo 65 77, Wynand Dingle 68 74, Garrick Higgo 74 68, Jaco Prinsloo 71 71, Hennie Otto 72 70, Titch Moore 73 69, Peetie van der Merwe 75 67
143 – Joe Nawanga 71 72, Breyten Meyer 74 69, Francois van Vuuren 73 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 70, Derick Petersen 72 71
Missed the cut:-
144 – Pieter Moolman 72 72, Hayden Griffiths 75 69, Stephen Ferreira 73 71, Kyle Barker 73 71, Estiaan Conradie 73 71, Thabiso Ngcobo 75 69, Franklin Manchest 75 69, Theunis Bezuidenhout 75 69, Jake Redman 71 73, Andrew van der Knaap 69 75, Herman Loubser 74 70, Teaghan Gauche 72 72
145 – DK Kim 74 71, Neswill Croy 74 71, Ruan Huysamen 74 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 72, Ryan O’Neill 71 74, Darin de Smidt 72 73, Anton Haig 75 70, Combrinck Smit 72 73
146 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 69, Rourke van der Spuy 71 75, Andre De Decker 77 69, Sipho Bujela 72 74, Heinrich Bruiners 75 71, Deon Germishuys 70 76, CJ du Plessis 72 74, Sean Bradley 73 73, Kyle McClatchie 73 73, Jared Harvey 73 73, Scott Campbell 72 74, Teboho Sefatsa 75 71
147 – Yubin Jung 72 75, Paul Boshoff 74 73, Christopher Van der Merwe 74 73, Matt Bright 75 72, Erhard Lambrechts 74 73
148 – Gerrit Foster 75 73, Chris Cannon 75 73, Ruan Korb 70 78, David McIntyre 77 71, Tyrone Ryan 76 72, Jason Diab 77 71, Ruan Botha 76 72, Basil Wright 77 71, Tristen Strydom 73 75, Luke Mayo 71 77
149 – Keelan van Wyk 75 74, Karl Ochse 74 75, Luke Brown 80 69, Roberto Lupini 75 74, Toto Thimba 80 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 75 74, Jade Buitendag 76 73
150 – Altaaf Bux 76 74, Andre Nel 75 75, Callum Mowat 77 73, Matthew Rushton 72 78
151 – Juran Dreyer 76 75, Thato Mazibuko 80 71, CJ Levey 79 72, Jacques P de Villiers 73 78
152 – Chris Swanepoel 76 76, Jean Hugo 79 73, James Pennington 81 71
153 – TC Charamba 75 78, Lwazi Gqira 77 76, Caylum Boon 76 77, Duane Keun 79 74
154 – Hendrikus Stoop 83 71
155 – Louis Albertse 78 77, Wayne Stroebel 81 74
156 – Nicholaus Frade 78 78, James Kamte 81 75, Arno Pretorius 79 77, Alpheus Kelapile 82 74
162 – Marco de Beer 84 78
165 – Pequestro Dyssel 88 77
WDN – Fritz Orren 87 WDN
RTD – Jonathan Waschefort 73 RTD
DSQ – Eugene Marugi 90 DSQ
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
