Keith Horne converted a few weeks of work on his state of mind into a second-round 66 on Friday to take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Parys Golf and Country Estate.
He overcame a balky start of two bogeys in his opening two holes to come roaring back with eight birdies to move to 11-under for the tournament, well clear of second-placed Garth Mulroy, and a further shot clear of Sweden’s Frederik From and England’s Chris Cannon who were on seven-under.
‘I did a bit of mental work in the last week or so and it seems to have helped a lot,’ said Horne. ‘Now, I’m just happy with the way I’m playing. I haven’t been playing so well for the last couple of months. I’ve been struggling a bit in Japan. I had a disappointing couple of months there.’
And it was his work off the tee which showed how much it’s turned around for the nine-time Sunshine Tour winner. ‘I’ve been driving the ball fantastically,’ he said. ‘I like to think of myself as a good driver, but this is about as good as I have ever been. I’m hitting it really solidly and really straight. This course is narrow and tight, and I’m hitting drivers almost everywhere and it’s leaving me such short irons in that it just feels easy.’
The result of that confidence off the tee is that he is able to reach all the par-fives in two, and his score of seven-under for those eight holes this week indicates just how much he owes to his driving this week.
In addition, he has been able to overcome trying starts to both his rounds so far. ‘Both days, I’ve started by wasting good tee shots on the first two holes,’ he said. ‘Yesterday, I threw away two easy up-and-downs on the first two holes and today, I tried to be aggressive starting. I took on the flags and flew the greens and made bogeys.
‘That’s an example of the mental work paying off. I didn’t get on top of myself, I didn’t get frustrated and angry early in the rounds. I felt like I was playing really well. My focus is a lot better on the course.’
Mulroy also recovered from a pair of early bogeys to post a 69 and get himself into contention in second place. Cannon finished his round with a flourish on 18, where he made eagle to card a 69 of his own, while From also finished three-under for the round to share third.
One shot further back was a group of six players on six-under, a group that included first-round leader Luke Jerling who shot level-par, and Trevor Fisher Jnr, whose seven-under 65 was the round of the day.
Ahead of them, however, Horne has the inside track for the final round, even if the extent of his lead was a little unexpected. ‘I was aiming for nine-under after two rounds,’ said Horne. ‘Just this morning, I thought if I could shoot four-under today, it would be good, and anything more would be a bonus. I’m very happy to be at 11.’
Second round leaderboard:
133 – Keith Horne 67 66
136 – Garth Mulroy 67 69
137 – Chris Cannon 68 69, Fredrik From 68 69
138 – Ruan Conradie 70 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 65, Jean Hugo 71 67, Michael Hollick 68 70, Ockie Strydom 70 68, Luke Jerling 66 72
139 – Luke Joy 69 70, Hennie Otto 68 71, Chris Swanepoel 71 68, Jake Redman 72 67, Jonathan Agren 66 73, CJ du Plessis 71 68, Combrinck Smit 72 67, Yubin Jung 69 70
140 – Louis Albertse 70 70, Dawie Van der Walt 73 67, Jaco Van Zyl 68 72
141 – Ulrich van den Berg 70 71, Neil Schietekat 73 68, Herman Loubser 71 70, Madalitso Muthiya 71 70, Teaghan Gauche 70 71, Vaughn Groenewald 70 71, Tyrone Ferreira 74 67, Martin Rohwer 68 73
142 – Steven Lecuyer 74 68, Stephen Ferreira 72 70, JJ Senekal 68 74, Doug McGuigan 67 75
143 – Stuart Smith 74 69, Ryan Cairns 70 73, Jaco Prinsloo 72 71, Scott Campbell 73 70, Daniel van Tonder 73 70, Wallie Coetsee 71 72, Thriston Lawrence 71 72, Bryce Easton 71 72, Heinrich Bruiners 74 69
Missed the cut:-
144 – Estiaan Conradie 72 72, Hennie du Plessis 72 72, Jared Harvey 74 70, Jason Smith 73 71, Desne Van Den Bergh 74 70, Allister de Kock 75 69, Rhys Enoch 72 72, Jacques P de Villiers 73 71, Jaco Ahlers 70 74
145 – Jbe’ Kruger 71 74, Teboho Sefatsa 76 69, Michiel Bothma 73 72, Andre Nel 74 71, Louis de Jager 73 72, Alex Haindl 72 73, Jean-Paul Strydom 72 73, Christiaan Basson 72 73, Divan van den Heever 74 71
146 – Philip Eriksson 74 72, Jake Roos 75 71, James Kamte 71 75, Colin Nel 75 71, Joe Nawanga 75 71, Jacques Blaauw 73 73, Merrick Bremner 72 74, Keenan Davidse 71 75, Ruan de Smidt 72 74
147 – Irvin Mazibuko 72 75, Rhys West 76 71, Sipho Bujela 71 76, Duane Keun 70 77, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 74 73, Marc Cayeux 69 78, Titch Moore 74 73
148 – Gideon van der Vyver 74 74, David McIntyre 71 77, Kyle McClatchie 78 70, Toto Thimba 79 69, Michael Palmer 76 72, Coert Groenewald 69 79, William Weidner 78 70, Callum Mowat 71 77, Wynand Dingle 72 76, Todd Clements 72 76, Bennie van der Merwe 75 73
149 – Lindani Ndwandwe 74 75, Dayne Moore 72 77, Damon Stephenson 73 76, Michael Schutz 71 78, Daniel Hammond 76 73, Riekus Nortje 75 74, Derick Petersen 72 77, Allan Versfeld 76 73
150 – Omar Sandys 72 78, Lyle Rowe 69 81, Rourke van der Spuy 75 75, Luke Trocado 72 78, Roberto Lupini 76 74, Breyten Meyer 74 76
151 – Andrew Odoh 74 77, Jade Buitendag 73 78, Franklin Manchest 73 78, Bradford Vaughan 79 72, Aubrey Beckley 79 72, Theunis Bezuidenhout 75 76
152 – PH McIntyre 73 79, Philip Geerts 79 73, Thabang Simon 78 74, Bryandrew Roelofsz 74 78, Jacquin Hess 74 78, Pieter Moolman 78 74, Jason Viljoen 75 77
153 – Adriel Poonan 76 77, Erhard Lambrechts 79 74, Ryan Tipping 80 73, Wayne Stroebel 76 77
154 – James Pennington 75 79, Francois Coetzee 79 75, Altaaf Bux 74 80
155 – Marthin Scheepers 75 80, Makhetha Mazibuko 81 74, Andrew van der Knaap 78 77, Nic Henning 77 78
158 – Mark Murless 77 81, Fezekile Kana 81 77
160 – Keelan Africa 77 83, Jabulane Mabilane 79 81
171 – Samba Niang 81 90
WDN – Mark Williams 82 WDN
RTD – Basil Wright RTD
Photo: Thinus Maritz/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
