Hennie du Plessis’ scintillating form continued in round two of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament played at Sishen Golf Club as he carded a second successive six-under-par 66 to hold on to the lead on 12-under ahead of the final round.
In a birdie-laden second round, the 21-year old made a total of nine birdies, but dropped three shots along the way to restrict his score to six-under. He said there is no secret to his improved form, except that he has been in a better mental shape.
‘I haven’t changed much,’ he said. ‘I’ve just been feeling better about myself, the game, mentally. I’ve been waiting to get in the mix since last week. I mean, last week I played really well. It was definitely another good day today.’
Going into the final round with a two-shot cushion, Du Plessis is taking a cautious stance regarding the prospect of emerging victorious on Saturday.
‘It’s a good cushion,’ he said. ‘You know the guys are going to come chasing after you, so you just keep to your game-plan and try to sink as many putts as you can.’
Maintaining the chase is Ruan de Smidt, who signed for a bogey-free five-under-par 67 to total 10-under. With his brother Darin on the bag, De Smidt made no mistakes on Friday, except for breaking his six-iron in half on a fairway while on his homeward nine. Without a five-iron in the bag, and now with a broken six-iron, De Smidt admitted he was worried ahead of the final round in Kathu.
‘It’s a big worry for me,’ he said.
‘I don’t know how that six-iron broke. Out in the middle of the fairway. I obviously tried to dig it in too much. So, travelling without a five-iron now. It’s going to be difficult because I have a four and a seven and that’s about a 40-metre gap out there, so we’ll see how that works out tomorrow.’
Ockie Strydom made moving day count and got himself into contention, as he carded a flawless five-under 67 to get to seven-under-par for the tournament and move to third on the leaderboard. Coming in at fourth and on six-under for the week is veteran Jean Hugo, who also carded a five-under 67 round.
With the heat and wind predicted for the final round, and with the leading Du Plessis very comfortable in windy conditions, the final round is sure to produce fireworks, as the chasing players will want to give a good account of themselves in Kathu.
Second round leaderboard at VOG Sishen:
132 – Hennie du Plessis 66 66
134 – Ruan de Smidt 67 67
137 – Ockie Strydom 70 67
138 – Jean Hugo 71 67
139 – Aubrey Beckley 68 71, Jonathan Agren 68 71
140 – Jacques Kruyswijk 72 68, Justin Harding 70 70, Stephen Ferreira 71 69, Doug McGuigan 70 70
141 – MJ Viljoen 70 71, Combrinck Smit 73 68, Hennie Otto 70 71, Louis de Jager 71 70
142 – Jaco Prinsloo 69 73, Tyrone Ryan 71 71, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 71 71, Andrew van der Knaap 72 70, Desne Van Den Bergh 68 74
143 – Jean-Paul Strydom 74 69, Lyle Rowe 72 71, Andre Nel 71 72, Breyten Meyer 71 72, Jake Redman 74 69, Callum Mowat 74 69, Morne Buys 77 66, Andrew Curlewis 72 71, Colin Nel 72 71
144 – Antonio Rosado 71 73, Thriston Lawrence 71 73, Theunis Spangenberg 72 72, Luke Jerling 71 73, Pieter Kruger 73 71, Duane Keun 71 73, Dongkwan Kim 72 72, Jacques Blaauw 68 76, Chris Swanepoel 77 67, Danie Van Niekerk 71 73
145 – Ryan Cairns 75 70, JJ Senekal 72 73, Alex Haindl 74 71, Riekus Nortje 77 68, Keenan Davidse 76 69, Chris Cannon 74 71, Wallie Coetsee 74 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 73, Omar Sandys 73 72, Divan Gerber 71 74, Jake Roos 72 73, Tyrone Ferreira 69 76, Martin Rohwer 69 76, Irvin Mazibuko 69 76
Missed the cut:
146 – Peter Karmis 73 73, Francois Coetzee 75 71, Rourke van der Spuy 74 72, Ryan Tipping 72 74, Jared Harvey 75 71, Jason Froneman 71 75, Jason Diab 75 71, Stuart Smith 72 74
147 – Thanda Mavundla 73 74, Martin Rominger 75 72, Herman Loubser 75 72, Steve Surry 74 73, Zander Lombard 75 72, Matthew Spacey 69 78, Jason Roets 73 74, Stefan Engell Andersen 80 67, Cody Martin 70 77
148 – Matthew Carvell 73 75, Jason Smith 75 73, Allister de Kock 76 72, Damon Stephenson 70 78, Jason Viljoen 72 76, Mark Williams 73 75, Steven Ferreira 72 76, Toto Thimba 73 75
149 – Madalitso Muthiya 72 77, Jacquin Hess 75 74, Matias Calderon 75 74, Nic Henning 73 76, Dwayne Basson 73 76, Teaghan Gauche 74 75
150 – Allan Versfeld 79 71, Bryn Flanagan 78 72, Charl Coetzee 74 76, Jaco Mouton 74 76
151 – Jacques P de Villiers 74 77, Mark Murless 77 74, Sean Bradley 78 73, Christiaan Basson 73 78, Wynand Dingle 72 79
152 – Altaaf Bux 76 76, Daniel Hammond 77 75, Michael Palmer 77 75, Teboho Sefatsa 75 77, Heinrich Bruiners 75 77
153 – Rhys West 75 78, Makhetha Mazibuko 77 76, Bryandrew Roelofsz 77 76
154 – N.J. Arnoldi 76 78, Kevin Stone 81 73
155 – Ruan Huysamen 76 79, Gerard du Plooy 78 77, Gert Myburgh 76 79, Mohit Mediratta 77 78, Antonio Costa 83 72, PH McIntyre 78 77
156 – Dayne Moore 78 78
157 – Michael Hollick 79 78, Jeff Inglis 77 80, Louis Calitz 77 80, Cameron Esau 82 75
158 – Greg Bentley 79 79
161 – Teagan Moore 80 81
162 – Gavin Vorster 83 79, Eugen Marugi 84 78
163 – Neal Herman 80 83
164 – Shane Granger 81 83
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
