Stephen Ferreira backed up his opening 62 at the KCB Karen Masters with a brilliant 66 to take a three-shot lead into the weekend at Karen Country Club.
A shaky start – on the 10th – which saw him make bogey threatened to derail his round but he bounced back in style, birdieing three holes in a row. Three pars later he made another birdie as he turned in 33.
‘I can’t really complain,’ said Ferreira.
‘It is tough to go low and try to shoot a good score to back that up. I managed to do a decent round, I think. I didn’t really do much wrong, so pretty much everything was good, really.’
His back nine was just as solid because almost similar to yesterday’s run on those first four holes of the golf course, he went on a sweet birdie-run there; making three in a row. For the remaining holes, the Zimbabwean held on steadily, making six straight pars to consolidate his lead.
‘It was very nice going birdie-birdie-birdie after that drop. I had a good chance on 14 as well but just kind of left it in the mouth. Then 15, I feel like I should have made a birdie there but couldn’t up-and-down from the front. A nice start to the front nine, a little birdie-birdie-birdie again. I’m pretty satisfied with six-under,’ he said.
Hot on his heels is Toto Thimba, a member of the Gary Player Class, whose scintillating 63 catapulted him to second.
He opened his round with back-to-back pars on the 10th and 11th before picking up a birdie on the 12th, his third hole of the day. A drop on his fifth – the 14th hole of the course – was quickly forgotten as he went on to make three birdies in the last four holes of that front nine of his.
He turned on the magic after the turn, going on a run of four consecutive birdies from the first hole – his 10th – through the fourth, his 13th. Then, one on six and another on seven as he went out in 30.
The third spot is occupied by JC Ritchie at 11-under par after his second-round 64 while rookie Garrick Higgo takes up the fourth spot as he aims to make it back-to-back wins in less than a year on Tour.
Second round leaderboard:
128 – Stephen Ferreira 62 66
131 – Toto Thimba 68 63
133 – JC Ritchie 69 64
134 – Garrick Higgo 67 67
136 – CJ du Plessis 69 67, Chris Cannon 69 67, Michael Palmer 69 67
137 – Jacques P de Villiers 68 69
138 – MJ Viljoen 69 69, Merrick Bremner 70 68, Deon Germishuys 71 67, Jaco Ahlers 68 70
139 – Chris Swanepoel 70 69, Keith Horne 70 69, Andrew Odoh 69 70, David Wakhu 69 70
140 – Callum Mowat 70 70, Philip Eriksson 72 68, Bennie van der Merwe 72 68, Jake Redman 71 69, Peetie van der Merwe 69 71, Neil Schietekat 67 73
141 – Anton Haig 72 69, Estiaan Conradie 69 72, Greg Snow 67 74, JJ Senekal 70 71, Ruan de Smidt 71 70, Jeff Kubwa 70 71, Heinrich Bruiners 68 73, Kyle McClatchie 74 67, Steve Surry 71 70, Ockie Strydom 71 70, Kyle Barker 71 70
142 – Thabiso Ngcobo 67 75, Keenan Davidse 71 71, Thriston Lawrence 73 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 69 73, Madalitso Muthiya 72 70, Simon Ngige 72 70, Rhys West 71 71, Darin de Smidt 73 69, Keelan van Wyk 70 72, Jaco Prinsloo 70 72, Dayne Moore 73 69, Martin Rohwer 68 74143 – Pieter Moolman 73 70, Jack Harrison 73 70, Wallie Coetsee 71 72, Jean Hugo 72 71, Clinton Grobler 71 72, Aubrey Beckley 71 72, Ryan Tipping 71 72, Teaghan Gauche 75 68, Lyle Rowe 72 71, Dismas Indiza 70 73, Joe Nawanga 73 70
144 – Ruan Korb 74 70, Fredrik From 73 71, Rizwan Charania 73 71, Tyrone Ryan 69 75, Daniel van Tonder 73 71, CJ Wangai 70 74, James Allan 71 73, Simon Njogu 74 70, Jastas Madoya 70 74
Missed the cut:
145 – Sujan Shah 71 74, Ryan Cairns 73 72, Kyle Pilgrim 75 70, Stefan Wears-Taylor 75 70, Luke Joy 77 68, Luke Mayo 72 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 69 76, Daniel Nduva 70 75
146 – Roberto Lupini 72 74, Benjamin Follett-Smith 75 71, Phillip Kasozi 77 69, Herman Loubser 68 78, Tristen Strydom 71 75, Michael Hollick 77 69
147 – Dylan Naidoo 76 71, Teboho Sefatsa 71 76, Bradley Diggeden 77 70, Jade Buitendag 71 76, Luke Jerling 74 73, DK Kim 72 75, Kenneth Bollo 74 73
148 – Lwazi Gqira 74 74, Joseph W Karanja 77 71, Jacques Blaauw 76 72, Titch Moore 75 73, Combrinck Smit 75 73, Yubin Jung 75 73, Samuel Njoroge 76 72, Scott Campbell 74 74
149 – Paul Boshoff 72 77, Mohit Mediratta 77 72, Dennis Saikwa 75 74
150 – Jared Harvey 75 75, Christiaan Basson 80 70, Ruan Huysamen 74 76, Jacob Okello 74 76, Matthew Wahome 77 73
151 – James Pennington 76 75, Luke Brown 77 74, Sean Bradley 77 74, Trainos Muradzikwa 76 75, Ken Abuto 77 74
152 – David Opati 76 76, Rourke van der Spuy 77 75, Tony Omuli 78 74, David Odhiambo 75 77, Brian Toolit 75 77, Philip Geerts 74 78, Ronald Rugumayo 75 77, Ainamana Abraham 75 77, Hayden Griffiths 77 75, Boniface Simwa 74 78
153 – Erick Ooko Obura 76 77, Duane Keun 77 76, Fritz Orren 77 76, William Weidner 76 77, Wynand Dingle 74 79, David McIntyre 75 78, Hesbon Kutwa 78 75, Kopan Timbe 77 76
154 – Ruan Conradie 78 76, Alfred Nandwa 80 74, Jason Froneman 79 75, Gerrit Foster 80 74, Dylan Mostert 82 72
155 – Sunday Olapade 80 75, Richard Ainley 72 83, Wayne Stroebel 82 73, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 74 81, Matt Bright 82 73, Deo Akope 80 75, Alpheus Kelapile 76 79
156 – Juran Dreyer 75 81, Paul Chidale 76 80, Frank Matilo 79 77
157 – Louis Albertse 78 79, Jason Diab 72 85, Mark Williams 80 77, Caylum Boon 82 75
158 – Edwin Mudanyi 78 80, Njuguna Ngugi 78 80, Fadhil Said Nkya 82 76
159 – Victor Kachepatsonga 74 85, Nelson Mudanyi 79 80, Ganeev Giddie 78 81
161 – Sullivan Muthugia 84 77, Abdallah Yusuf Sanzagala 78 83, Vincent Ikemefume 84 77
167 – Herman Mutawe 84 83
182 – Anthony Gacheru 94 88
RTD – Hendrikus Stoop 81 RTD
Photo: Thinus Maritz/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
