A blemish-free 62 helped Ruan Conradie to a single-stroke lead of the Sibaya Challenge presented by Coca Cola Beverages South Africa on a total of 11-under par ahead of the final round at The Woods at Mount Edgecombe.
Conradie went into the second round of this event trailing Malcolm Mitchell by three shots and didn’t waste time announcing his intentions on the day. Three birdies in his opening three holes got him going and a hole later, another birdie entered his scorecard. Three pars followed before he made another birdie on the ninth as he turned in 30.
‘I made a lot of birdies out there today.’ he noted.
‘I felt like I used the wind to my advantage, even though it was a two-club wind so I am very pleased with the game I have at the moment.’
Those birdies kept finding their way onto his card because after the par he made on the 10th, another pair of birdies came which were followed by a par on the 13th. He made further gains on the par-five 14th hole and just kept things composed from there on, making four straight pars to close off a solid round of golf.
‘On I hit, I’s day, a monster drive,’ he said. ‘
‘And because I was hitting behind Toto (Thimba) the whole day, so to get one right next to his was a good feeling. From there I just had a solid 8-iron to the green and two-putted for birdie. But I wouldn’t say I was hitting all the good shots. I did miss a few but as soon as you start getting into a rhythm, it does start to feel a little bit easier but you’re always nervy about where the wind is going to come from.’
Tying Conradie’s score on the day but a shot behind him for the tournament was Neil Schietekat. He had seven birdies, an eagle and a single drop on his way to the second spot on the leaderboard. Third on the leaderboard is James Hart du Preez at nine-under par for the week while overnight leader, Malcolm Mitchell occupies fifth on eight-under following his round-two 64.
Scores:
129 – Ruan Conradie 67 62
130 – Neil Schietekat 68 62
131 – James Hart du Preez 68 63
132 – Malcolm Mitchell 64 68
133 – Fredrik From 70 63, Jonathan Agren 67 66, Ruan de Smidt 68 65, Andre Nel 68 65, Jacques P de Villiers 69 64
134 – Oliver Bekker 67 67, Steve Surry 68 66, Anthony Michael 64 70
135 – Dylan Naidoo 66 69, Titch Moore 64 71, Chris Cannon 68 67, Christiaan Basson 69 66, Hennie Otto 69 66, Altaaf Bux 68 67
136 – Paul Boshoff 68 68, Martin Rohwer 67 69, Pieter Moolman 70 66, Daniel van Tonder 68 68, Kyle Barker 71 65, Teboho Sefatsa 69 67, Luke Mayo 68 68, Toto Thimba 68 68, Mark Williams 70 66
137 – Andrew van der Knaap 67 70, Andrew Curlewis 68 69, JC Ritchie 69 68, Lyle Rowe 69 68, Jared Harvey 70 67, Keelan van Wyk 69 68, Anton Haig 67 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 68 69, Ockie Strydom 70 67, Jake Redman 68 69, Jaco Prinsloo 73 64, Madalitso Muthiya 68 69
138 – Erhard Lambrechts 73 65, Darin de Smidt 73 65, Keith Horne 70 68, Stephen Ferreira 71 67, CJ du Plessis 68 70, Daniel Greene 70 68, Philip Eriksson 70 68, Jacques Blaauw 71 67, Hennie du Plessis 70 68, Derick Petersen 74 64, Clinton Grobler 69 69, Heinrich Bruiners 71 67, Estiaan Conradie 69 69, Jean Hugo 69 69, Doug McGuigan 71 67, Ryan Cairns 71 67, Colin Nel 69 69
Missed the cut:
139 – Karl Ochse 66 73, Callum Mowat 70 69, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 70, Garth Mulroy 72 67, Allister de Kock 69 70, Sean Bradley 71 68, Roberto Lupini 69 70, Bennie van der Merwe 68 71, Divan van den Heever 69 70
140 – Greg Snow 72 68, Jake Roos 70 70, Tristen Strydom 71 69, Lindani Ndwandwe 70 70, Franklin Manchest 71 69, Matt Bright 71 69, Ruan Huysamen 74 66, Merrick Bremner 73 67, Scott Campbell 72 68, Stefan Wears-Taylor 71 69, MJ Viljoen 69 71, Kyle McClatchie 70 70, Cameron Moralee 68 72
141 – Luke Jerling 71 70, Christopher Van der Merwe 73 68, Ruan Korb 72 69, Ryan Tipping 72 69, Thriston Lawrence 71 70, Louis Albertse 73 68, Herman Loubser 70 71, Deon Germishuys 72 69, Chris Swanepoel 69 72, Alex Haindl 66 75, Andrew Odoh 66 75, DK Kim 70 71, Ryan O’Neill 68 73
142 – CJ Levey 69 73, Theunis Bezuidenhout 72 70, Dayne Moore 72 70, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 72, Rhys West 73 69, Jonathan Waschefort 72 70, Combrinck Smit 71 71, Breyten Meyer 69 73, Wynand Dingle 68 74, Thanda Mavundla 72 70
143 – Keenan Davidse 73 70, Wayne Stroebel 70 73, Dylan Mostert 70 73, Adilson Da Silva 70 73, David McIntyre 75 68, Lwazi Gqira 74 69
144 – Michael Palmer 72 72, Arno Pretorius 70 74, Wallie Coetsee 70 74, Adriel Poonan 72 72, Jade Buitendag 72 72
145 – Philip Geerts 73 72, Andre De Decker 68 77, Rourke van der Spuy 75 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 74, Luke Brown 73 72
146 – Duane Keun 72 74, Caylum Boon 73 73
147 – Hendrikus Stoop 71 76, Siyanda Mwandla 79 68, Juran Dreyer 70 77, JJ Senekal 70 77, Benjamin Follett-Smith 76 71, Teaghan Gauche 75 72, Matthew Rushton 73 74
148 – Jacquin Hess 77 71, Dylan Kok 71 77, James Pennington 73 75
149 – Peetie van der Merwe 71 78, Hayden Griffiths 75 74
150 – Aubrey Beckley 75 75
151 – Yubin Jung 75 76
152 – Matthew Carvell 80 72
WDN – Sipho Bujela 82 WDN
