Louis de Jager navigated the Arabella Country Club layout expertly on Saturday to sign for five-under-par 67 to total nine-under-par on his way to a share of the lead with Jaco Ahlers ahead of the final round in Kleinmond.
Teeing off early when the weather wasn’t too friendly at Arabella, De Jager, and indeed most of those who teed off in the morning knew the challenge that they were confronted with.
‘I am very happy,’ said De Jager who has not missed a cut this season. ‘If you had told me five-under today at the start of the day, I would have taken it with a smile. It got tough this morning, but it turned out to be a lovely day out here. Our back nine was lovely.’
He opened his round with a birdie on a par-four first hole, then he picked up a par on the second before making another birdie on the third. Four pars later, he made his first bogey of the round but swiftly recovered on the ninth, making a birdie there. He took a par at the turn before making gains on the 11th and the 13th. Those were immediately threatened by the bogey he made on 14, however, birdies on the 16th and the last hole meant a 67 was secured and an opportunity for a win in the final round, a possibility.
De Jager admitted that he did not expect such a score when he teed off at the Peter Matkovich-designed course. ‘I did not think the score was out there. I hit the ball very well and I am putting pretty well this week. So, I am very pleased,’ he said.
Ahlers said, after the injury that sidelined him for a while, he was pleased to return and play the way he currently is and while he was not entirely happy with his showing at Selborne Park a fortnight ago, he was pleased to see the work he’s been doing in the intervening period paying dividends.
‘I’ve been off through injury and I came back and played Selborne some 10 days ago, it wasn’t great,’ he said, ‘but, I put a bit of work in and it’s nice to see it coming off, you know. I hit the ball nicely for two days and I’ve got new irons in the bag and they just fit straightaway, you know. I’m really chuffed.’
While Ahlers is on the hunt for his eighth Sunshine Tour title, De Jager, whose last win came at the Nedbank Affinity Cup back in 2014, would be happier to end a winless run that has lasted four years.
Trailing by 1 on eight-under, Trevor Fisher carded a second flawless 68 to take the second spot while Neil Schietekat is two-shots shy of the leaders with the Zimbabwean Marc Cayeux behind the leaders by three.
Scores:
135 – Louis de Jager 68 67, Jaco Ahlers 68 67
136 – Trevor Fisher Jnr 68 68
137 – Neil Schietekat 69 68
138 – Marc Cayeux 68 70
139 – Pieter Moolman 69 70
140 – Jacques Blaauw 69 71, Jake Roos 73 67, Jaco Prinsloo 71 69
142 – Ockie Strydom 68 74, Brandon Stone 71 71
143 – Jonathan Agren 74 69, Jean Hugo 69 74, Callum Mowat 72 71, Rhys West 71 72, Jake Redman 73 70, Herman Loubser 72 71, Heinrich Bruiners 68 75, Peter Karmis 72 71
145 – Estiaan Conradie 73 72, Tyrone Ferreira 71 74, Jason Viljoen 73 72, Charl Coetzee 77 68, Michael Hollick 76 69, Franklin Manchest 72 73, Doug McGuigan 74 71, Vaughn Groenewald 71 74, MJ Viljoen 72 73, Cameron Moralee 76 69
146 – Roberto Lupini 74 72, Daniel Greene 72 74, Daniel van Tonder 73 73, Christiaan Basson 77 69, Michael Palmer 72 74, Steven Lecuyer 76 70, Titch Moore 76 70, Keenan Davidse 73 73, Luke Jerling 75 71, Bennie van der Merwe 74 72, Allan Versfeld 75 71
Missed the cut:
147 – Wynand Dingle 72 75, Louis Albertse 76 71, Hennie Otto 74 73, Ruan Conradie 72 75, Andrew Curlewis 74 73, Alex Haindl 73 74, Derick Petersen 74 73, Desne Van Den Bergh 72 75
148 – Ruan de Smidt 70 78, Merrick Bremner 76 72, Andre De Decker 76 72, Hennie du Plessis 78 70, David McIntyre 72 76, Chris Swanepoel 78 70, Jade Buitendag 75 73, Dayne Moore 68 80, Martin Rohwer 75 73, Tyrone Ryan 74 74, James Kamte 76 72
149 – James Pennington 78 71, Jacques P de Villiers 73 76
150 – Yubin Jung 78 72, Steve Surry 73 77, Combrinck Smit 73 77, Luke Trocado 74 76, Kevin Stone 81 69, Anton Haig 80 70, Keith Horne 77 73, Colin Nel 77 73
151 – Terence Coutinho 75 76, Teaghan Gauche 75 76, Allister de Kock 76 75, Theunis Bezuidenhout 74 77, Breyten Meyer 74 77, Jared Harvey 79 72, Coert Groenewald 77 74
152 – Toto Thimba 76 76, Philip Geerts 76 76, Jason Smith 79 73
153 – Makhetha Mazibuko 80 73, Keelan Africa 72 81, Omar Sandys 79 74, Daniel Hammond 74 79, Jacquin Hess 78 75, Matthew Carvell 73 80
154 – Wayne Stroebel 81 73, Jean-Paul Strydom 77 77, Wallie Coetsee 78 76, Erhard Lambrechts 79 75, Martin Rominger 76 78
155 – Stephen Ferreira 86 69, Dwayne Basson 79 76, Stuart Smith 80 75, William Weidner 78 77
156 – Ryan Tipping 80 76, Riekus Nortje 79 77, Gerrit Foster 77 79, Duane Keun 82 74, Cameron Esau 81 75
157 – Kyle McClatchie 82 75, Basil Wright 80 77
158 – JJ Senekal 79 79, Gideon van der Vyver 80 78, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 78 80, Gavin Vorster 80 78
160 – Phumlani Maluka 84 76, Thabang Simon 83 77, Marthin Scheepers 80 80, Damon Stephenson 79 81
161 – Adriel Poonan 83 78, Altaaf Bux 85 76
162 – Stefan Engell Andersen 80 82, Kayyam Rauf Mandhu 82 80, Jason Roets 83 79
166 – Michael Schutz 82 84
WDN – Andre Nel 81 WDN
