A run of four straight birdies in his first five holes helped Deon Germishuys to a second-round 65 which catapulted him into a share of the lead at the Vodacom Origins of Golf in Stellenbosch on Friday.
While he didn’t make any further gains on the front nine, rookie Germishuys didn’t drop a single shot and after a run of six pars, another birdie found its way onto his card on the par-five 12th hole. Another spell of pars which lasted four holes back-to-back followed before the Ebotse Golf Links member closed with consecutive birdies.
‘I got off to a pretty solid start,’ Germishuys said. ‘I birdied the second, third, fourth and the fifth hole, so that was cool. Then, things started to slow down and I didn’t make as many putts as I wanted to on the back nine.
‘The conditions were a lot like yesterday; hot and cold the whole day but for some reason, because the wind never swirls this much in Stellenbosch, but it was swirling today and yesterday. But I’m happy with my round.’
Tied with Germishuys at the summit of the leaderboard after day two is overnight leader, Jean-Paul Strydom whose scorecard was a little more colourful than Germishuys’.
Strydom made seven birdies and three drops en route to a four-under 64. Teeing off the 10th hole, he started his round with two bogeys one after the other before going on a run of three birdies back-to-back from 12 to 14. Three pars later he made further gains as he turned in 34.
Another birdie on his 10th hole was quickly followed by another two holes later. He dropped another shot on 16 but made up for that with the birdie on the eighth, his 17th hole of the day.
‘The start was rough today,’ he admitted after his round. ‘Two bogeys on 10 and 11; wasn’t a really good tee shot. I bounced back with three birdies and that kind of got me going. I know I’m playing well so I just had to keep at it and the birdies would come.’
He is looking for his second win on Tour after he clinched the coveted Tour Championship title at Serengeti before an injury forced him off for about six months while Germishuys would love to get one in his rookie season. Another rookie, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Martin Rohwer and the veteran Hennie Otto are all in a share of third at 10-under par and trailing by three shots going into the final round.
Second round leaderboard:
131 – Deon Germishuys 66 65, Jean-Paul Strydom 63 68
134 – Stefan Wears-Taylor 65 69, Martin Rohwer 67 67, Hennie Otto 68 66
135 – JJ Senekal 65 70, Riekus Nortje 66 69
136 – Philip Geerts 67 69, Thriston Lawrence 68 68, Jonathan Agren 69 67, Erhard Lambrechts 69 67, Aubrey Beckley 70 66
137 – Hendrikus Stoop 73 64, Louis Albertse 69 68
138 – Heinrich Bruiners 69 69, Chris Cannon 69 69, Luke Jerling 70 68, Daniel van Tonder 69 69, Garrick Higgo 71 67, Kyle McClatchie 67 71, Estiaan Conradie 70 68
139 – Jake Roos 71 68, Garth Mulroy 72 67, Andrew van der Knaap 66 73, Christiaan Basson 69 70, Keenan Davidse 66 73, Doug McGuigan 73 66, Stephen Ferreira 71 68
140 – Ruan Huysamen 72 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 73, Jaco Ahlers 70 70, Ruan de Smidt 72 68, Jacques P de Villiers 67 73, Alex Haindl 68 72, Oliver Bekker 72 68
141 – Pieter Moolman 69 72, Toto Thimba 74 67, Jake Redman 71 70, Dylan Mostert 70 71, James Hart du Preez 69 72, Jean Hugo 69 72, Neil Schietekat 68 73, Ruan Conradie 68 73, Titch Moore 70 71, Duane Keun 70 71
Missed the cut:
142 – Anton Haig 72 70, Jaco Prinsloo 70 72, Ockie Strydom 72 70, Merrick Bremner 68 74, Tristen Strydom 69 73, Jade Buitendag 71 71, Ruan Korb 69 73, Chris Swanepoel 67 75, Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 73, Clinton Grobler 68 74, Jacques Blaauw 70 72, Darin de Smidt 72 70, Wallie Coetsee 73 69, Fredrik From 71 71, Kyle Barker 71 71, Matthew Rushton 72 70
143 – CJ du Plessis 70 73, Paul Boshoff 74 69, Breyten Meyer 70 73, Lyle Rowe 75 68, Andrew Curlewis 72 71, Karl Ochse 70 73, Yubin Jung 72 71
144 – Thato Mazibuko 72 72, Rhys West 72 72, Wynand Dingle 68 76, Gerrit Foster 69 75, Thabiso Ngcobo 70 74, Luke Brown 69 75, Hayden Griffiths 70 74, Caylum Boon 69 75
145 – Teaghan Gauche 74 71, Peetie van der Merwe 73 72, Juran Dreyer 73 72, MJ Viljoen 72 73
146 – Scott Campbell 72 74, Tyrone Ryan 74 72, Rourke van der Spuy 74 72, Jaco Van Zyl 71 75, Marco de Beer 76 70, Wayne Stroebel 71 75, Keelan van Wyk 73 73, Bennie van der Merwe 74 72, Steve Surry 75 71, David McIntyre 71 75
147 – Cameron Moralee 72 75, Gavin Vorster 72 75, Combrinck Smit 73 74, Vaughn Groenewald 77 70
148 – Sean Bradley 75 73, Derick Petersen 76 72, Callum Mowat 78 70, Matt Bright 76 72, Jonathan Waschefort 72 76, Ryan O’Neill 73 75, Joe Nawanga 76 72, Jason Diab 76 72, Ryan Tipping 73 75, Roberto Lupini 70 78
149 – Teboho Sefatsa 73 76, Jacquin Hess 78 71, Jared Harvey 75 74, Theunis Bezuidenhout 75 74
150 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi 76 74, DK Kim 73 77, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 73 77
151 – Franklin Manchest 73 78, Cameron Esau 76 75
152 – Arno Pretorius 77 75, Andre De Decker 74 78, Dylan Naidoo 76 76
153 – Andre Nel 74 79, Sipho Bujela 77 76
155 – Francois van Vuuren 75 80, Nicholaus Frade 77 78
156 – Christopher Van der Merwe 74 82, Keelan Africa 79 77, Kayyam Rauf Mandhu 76 80
163 – Jeandre Badenhorst 86 77
165 – Lwazi Gqira 81 84
WDN – Neswill Croy 79 WDN
