George Coetzee had to dig a little deeper in the second round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Simola Golf and Country Estate to hold on to his lead.
He did just that on Friday as he signed for a 69 to total 14 under par and take a three-shot lead into the final round.
‘A strange start for me today,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t get going and I kept hitting average shots.’
He opened his round with three straight pars before making back-to-back bogeys on the 4th and 5th holes. After two more pars, a lonesome birdie got on to his card and then he made par to turn in 37. Two more pars preceded his second birdie of the day and those gains sparked something in him because after two more pars on the 13th and 14th holes, he made two consecutive birdies on the par-five 15th and on 16.
‘I’m happy that it finally came together,’ he said of his back nine. ‘I hit a couple of nice shots just as we were coming over the mountain and that momentum carried through.’
He will want carry that momentum through to the final round because a win here will mark a 10th Sunshine Tour title under his name, a possibility he will be relishing. He will still have to do the work, however, because chasing hard and three shots off his lead is the duo of MJ Viljoen and Sweden’s Fredrik From.
They both signed for 66s on Friday and with 18 more holes to play, each of them has a real chance to claim victory here. Viljoen has one win to his name on Tour while From is yet to grace the winner’s circle on this circuit and with the leaderboard as congested as it currently is, both players will feel they might have a shot at winning.
Sharing the fourth spot on the leaderboard are Ryan Tipping, rookie Deon Germishuys, Daniel van Tonder, Jake Redman, Jean Hugo and Andre de Decker, at nine under par for the tournament. In a share of 10th is the trio of Ruan Conradie, member of the Gary Player Class Keenan Davidse and current leader in the Rookie of the Year race, Garrick Higgo. They are eight under for the week and trail by six shots.
Scores:
130 – George Coetzee 61 69
133 – MJ Viljoen 67 66, Fredrik From 67 66
135 – Ryan Tipping 68 67, Deon Germishuys 71 64, Daniel van Tonder 68 67, Jake Redman 64 71, Jean Hugo 66 69, Andre De Decker 68 67
136 – Ruan Conradie 71 65, Keenan Davidse 67 69, Garrick Higgo 71 65
137 – Martin Rohwer 67 70, Malcolm Mitchell 69 68, Doug McGuigan 69 68, Anton Haig 69 68
138 – Ockie Strydom 71 67, Combrinck Smit 68 70, Roberto Lupini 72 66, Bennie van der Merwe 69 69, Luke Jerling 69 69, Hennie Otto 70 68
139 – Thriston Lawrence 73 66, Hennie du Plessis 69 70, Jaco Ahlers 71 68, Kyle Barker 71 68, Garth Mulroy 70 69, James Hart du Preez 70 69, Riekus Nortje 71 68, Franklin Manchest 68 71, Jade Buitendag 71 68
140 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 70 70, Rhys West 75 65, JJ Senekal 72 68, CJ du Plessis 68 72, Andrew Curlewis 70 70, Ruan Korb 73 67, Hayden Griffiths 72 68, Jake Roos 72 68, Breyten Meyer 67 73, Duane Keun 72 68, Kyle McClatchie 72 68
Missed the cut:
141 – Herman Loubser 69 72, Ryan Cairns 72 69, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 72, Theunis Bezuidenhout 71 70, Luke Brown 71 70, Dylan Kok 71 70, Cameron Moralee 70 71, Jacquin Hess 67 74, Clinton Grobler 73 68, Callum Mowat 73 68, Alex Haindl 71 70, Philip Geerts 69 72
142 – Matt Bright 73 69, Aubrey Beckley 73 69, Estiaan Conradie 71 71, Louis Albertse 71 71, Teboho Sefatsa 73 69, Oliver Bekker 66 76, Andre Nel 68 74, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 71, Ruan Huysamen 75 67
143 – Jaco Prinsloo 77 66, Andrew van der Knaap 71 72, Wynand Dingle 74 69, Allister de Kock 70 73, Erhard Lambrechts 75 68
144 – Gerrit Foster 73 71, Jonathan Waschefort 74 70, Lyle Rowe 75 69, Darin de Smidt 72 72, Dayne Moore 70 74
145 – Matthew Rushton 74 71, DK Kim 75 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 74, Anthony Michael 70 75, Ryan O’Neill 75 70
146 – Sean Bradley 74 72, Ruan de Smidt 73 73, Tristen Strydom 76 70, Dylan Mostert 72 74, Caylum Boon 78 68, Christopher Van der Merwe 73 73, Michael Hollick 74 72, Titch Moore 72 74, Luke Mayo 75 71
147 – Rupert Kaminski 70 77, Toto Thimba 72 75, Scott Campbell 73 74, Andrew Odoh 80 67, Karl Ochse 75 72
148 – Jacques P de Villiers 75 73, Hendrikus Stoop 73 75, Arno Pretorius 76 72, Francois van Vuuren 73 75, Paul Boshoff 75 73, Chris Swanepoel 74 74, Teaghan Gauche 77 71
149 – Matthew Carvell 77 72, Dylan Naidoo 77 72
150 – Jared Harvey 77 73, David McIntyre 77 73, Derick Petersen 76 74
151 – Maurice Prinsloo 80 71, Cameron Esau 75 76, Stephen Ferreira 76 75, Christiaan Basson 74 77, Juran Dreyer 78 73, Jason Diab 72 79
152 – Nicholaus Frade 74 78, Wallie Coetsee 77 75, Divan van den Heever 75 77
153 – Wayne Stroebel 77 76
154 – Yubin Jung 80 74
156 – Adriel Poonan 80 76
RTD – Heinrich Bruiners RTD RTD
