The Eye of Africa PGA Championship has been the platform for breakthrough wins before and Thriston Lawrence will be hoping that that trend continues heading into the weekend.
Lawrence signed for his second consecutive 66 on the Eye of Africa Signature Golf Estate course on Friday to top the leaderboard on 12 under par. He is two strokes clear of Estiaan Conradie, Bryce Easton and Hennie O’Kennedy, who signed for rounds of 65, 66 and 66 respectively.
Lawrence made his Sunshine Tour breakthrough on the winter schedule of the tour last year when he won the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Stellenbosch Golf Club. But a win in the summer still eludes him, although he finished fourth in last year’s Eye of Africa PGA Championship and then again came close when he finished runner-up in the Tour Championship the same year.
‘My all-round game has been good over the past two days. I hit 17 greens in the second round. The first green I missed was on the last hole and it was a bit of a sloppy finish with that bogey. But I’m very happy and playing with a lot of confidence,’ said Lawrence, who came close to a hole-in-one on the par-three fifth hole.
‘I hit a wedge to about a foot there. It was nice to get that momentum again with a birdie after the bogey on my 11th hole.’
Currently lying in seventh place on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, Lawrence is not planning to change a thing from the recipe that has worked for him all season.
‘I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m just going to stick to my game plan and take it from there. You never know with this game. You don’t need to be too technical and think too much about it – just do what you do and give it your best.’
As one of Lawrence’s nearest challengers, Conradie has also given himself a great opportunity to break through this summer.
‘I just kept it in play and kept my card bogey free,” said Conradie, who finished strong with two birdies on holes 17 and 18.’
And Easton was just as solid off the tee on a golf course that clearly rewards accuracy.
‘I’m driving it great and I didn’t miss a fairway in the second round, which on this golf course sets up opportunities. I’m definitely pleased with the way I’ve been hitting it off the tee. I could’ve made a few more birdies out there, but 10 under at the halfway mark is nothing to complain about,’ he said.
Scores from the second round of the Eye of Africa PGA Championship on the par-72 Eye of Africa Signature Golf Estate course on Friday:
132 – Thriston Lawrence 66 66
134 – Estiaan Conradie 69 65, Bryce Easton 68 66, Hennie O’Kennedy 68 66
135 – Darren Fichardt 65 70
136 – Jake Redman 69 67, Jacques Kruyswijk 67 69, Chris Swanepoel 67 69, Jaco Van Zyl 70 66, Jacques Blaauw 69 67, Tyrone Ferreira 67 69, Ruan de Smidt 69 67, Philip Eriksson 66 70, Daniel van Tonder 67 69, Gavin Moynihan 67 69, Louis de Jager 69 67
137 – Kyle Barker 70 67, Matias Calderon 70 67, Trevor Fisher Jnr 67 70, Mark Williams 70 67, Hennie Otto 70 67, Wilco Nienaber 71 66, Jean Hugo 69 68
138 – Toby Tree 70 68, Ulrich van den Berg 69 69, Callum Mowat 67 71, MJ Viljoen 70 68, Hennie du Plessis 72 66, Martin Rohwer 68 70, JC Ritchie 70 68
139 – Jade Buitendag 69 70, Peter Karmis 71 68, Fredrik From 71 68, Erhard Lambrechts 68 71, Divan van den Heever 72 67, Oliver Bekker 69 70, Toto Thimba 68 71, David McIntyre 69 70
140 – Andrew van der Knaap 71 69, Paul Boshoff 68 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 70 70, Andre De Decker 69 71, Titch Moore 69 71, Ockie Strydom 70 70, Jaco Ahlers 71 69, Ruan Conradie 70 70
141 – Derick Petersen 70 71, Christiaan Basson 74 67, Victor Lange 70 71, Andre Nel 71 70, Juran Dreyer 71 70, Steve Surry 71 70, Jake Roos 70 71, Garrick Higgo 66 75, Neil Schietekat 73 68, Luke Jerling 71 70
142 – Teaghan Gauche 74 68, James Allan 72 70, Bennie van der Merwe 73 69, Deon Germishuys 75 67, Hayden Griffiths 71 71, Doug McGuigan 73 69, James Hart du Preez 75 67, Vaughn Groenewald 70 72, Dylan Naidoo 70 72, Teboho Sefatsa 68 74
Missed the cut:
143 – DK Kim 69 74, Dylan Kok 70 73, Irvin Mazibuko 69 74, CJ du Plessis 72 71, Louis Albertse 70 73, Benjamin Follett-Smith 70 73, Francois van Vuuren 67 76, Ruan Korb 68 75, Ruan Huysamen 75 68, Combrinck Smit 67 76, Aubrey Beckley 71 72, Stephen Ferreira 74 69, Garth Mulroy 72 71, Herman Loubser 74 69, Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 75
144 – James Kingston 72 72, Christopher Van der Merwe 73 71, Allister de Kock 72 72, Andrew McLardy 71 73, Heinrich Bruiners 72 72
145 – Rupert Kaminski 74 71, Anton Haig 72 73, Philip Geerts 73 72, Riekus Nortje 75 70, Lwazi Gqira 72 73, Anthony Michael 73 72, Daniel Greene 71 74, Keelan van Wyk 71 74, Kenneth Dube 72 73
146 – Ross Mcgowan 76 70, Madalitso Muthiya 73 73, Gerrit Foster 75 71, Chris Cannon 75 71, Michael Palmer 72 74, Clinton Grobler 73 73, Keelan Africa 72 74
147 – Jared Harvey 74 73, Ryan Tipping 72 75, Rhys Enoch 73 74, Jacques P de Villiers 74 73, Ryan Cairns 70 77, Merrick Bremner 69 78, Wynand Dingle 74 73, Jannie Botha 74 73, Ruan Botha 74 73, Roberto Lupini 73 74, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 77 70, Theunis Bezuidenhout 75 72, Thanda Mavundla 66 81, Wallie Coetsee 70 77, Rourke van der Spuy 69 78, Jaco Prinsloo 75 72
148 – Nicholaus Frade 73 75, Dane Vosloo 71 77, Arno Pretorius 70 78, Yubin Jung 75 73, Matt Bright 77 71, Duane Keun 76 72, Darin de Smidt 76 72, Hendrikus Stoop 71 77
149 – Christo Roos 75 74, Michael Hollick 72 77, Jason Diab 79 70, Marc Cayeux 72 77, JJ Senekal 78 71
150 – Adriel Poonan 73 77, Keenan Davidse 73 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 74 76
151 – Alex Haindl 71 80, Michael du Toit 76 75, Ivano Ficalbi 76 75, Tyrone Ryan 78 73
152 – Tristen Strydom 73 79, Greg Jacobs 74 78, Matthew Rushton 77 75
154 – Fritz Orren 77 77, Dylan Mostert 76 78
155 – James Pennington 75 80, Peetie van der Merwe 76 79
156 – Dayne Moore 80 76, Cameron Esau 78 78
157 – Dean Nysschen 78 79, Terry Smith 74 83, Breyten Meyer 79 78
158 – Kyle McClatchie 78 80
159 – Rudy Whitfield 81 78
160 – Ruben Labuschagne 80 80
162 – James Searson 80 82
163 – Scott Campbell 81 82
DSQ – Lyle Rowe 72 DSQ
Photo: Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
