Anthony Michael took advantage of his solid play to fire a six-under-par 66 on the Outeniqua layout on Friday and take a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Dimension Data Pro-Am being played at Fancourt.
He made an eagle and five birdies, with just a single bogey to reach 10-under-par for the tournament, and he held his slight edge over Ruan de Smidt, who burst through the field with a brilliant nine-under-par 63 on Outeniqua, Jean-Paul Strydom who carded five-under 67 on Montagu, and Tjaart van der Walt who signed for a four-under 69 at The Links.
‘Outeniqua is the course to get a score on, but you’ve still got to hit the shots and you’ve still got to make the putts,’ said Michael. ‘You’ve got a lot more wedges in your hand, but you’ve got to get your wedges in close.’
The Dimension Data Pro-Am is played over all three courses at Fancourt – Outeniqua, Montagu and The Links. After the players have completed a round on each course, there will be a cut to the top 60 players and ties ahead of the final round on Montagu.
Michael was at something of a loss to explain exactly how he was leading. ‘I’ve been working on a lot of things and they are starting to click now,’ he said. ‘But for me, what happens on the range and what I take onto the course are two different things. I have been struggling a bit with the swing for the last few weeks, but on the course, I seem a lot more confident. Sometimes you hold the reins and you get a little scared out there when you’re in front. But my caddie just lets me carry on. Do what you’re doing and the result will happen.’
He was catapulted into the lead by his eagle on the second-last hole of his round. ‘I got a good drive down the middle on 17 and I had 198 to the flag,’ he said. ‘I just hit a solid six-iron. It was actually quite unfortunate because I was only just short. I read the line perfectly and I made it.’
For De Smidt, there was also a degree of confusion as to how he manged his 10-birdie blitz on his way to his 63. ‘Yesterday I played nicely for level par, and today my driver was shocking, but the putter was unbelievable and I hit it close,’ he said.
‘I’m very happy. It’s always good to be in contention with a couple of rounds to go. I’ve got The Links tomorrow, so it will be a little tougher than it was today.’
Strydom carded a five-under-par 67 with six birdies and a bogey for his share of second at halfway.
Van der Walt finished birdie-par-birdie in a round which had just a single bogey at The Links to get himself into contention.
Behind that trio, there was a group of eight players on eight-under for the tournament.
For now, for leader Michael, it’s all about keeping it going. ‘I wasn’t feeling too good coming in. But the way I’m playing at the moment, I must just ride the momentum and happens will happen.’ He said.
Second round leaderboard:
-10 – Anthony Michael 68 66
-9 – Ruan de Smidt 72 63, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 67, Tjaart van der Walt 67 69
-8 – Ockie Strydom 69 68, Keith Horne 68 69, Toby Tree 65 72, Justin Walters 68 69, Neil O’Briain 68 68, Breyten Meyer 69 67, Cody Martin 66 71, Jacques Blaauw 71 66
-7 – Andre Nel 68 69, Tristen Strydom 68 69, Luke Jerling 69 68, MJ Viljoen 69 69
-6 – Vaughn Groenewald 66 73, Daniel van Tonder 70 69, Jaco Ahlers 71 68, Garth Mulroy 65 74, Scott Vincent 67 72, Dawie Van der Walt 69 70, Jason Froneman 68 70
-5 – Madalitso Muthiya 68 72, Callum Mowat 68 72, Jaco Prinsloo 68 72, Alexander Knappe 72 68, Riekus Nortje 69 71, Michael Hollick 70 69, Kyle McClatchie 68 72, Jake Redman 70 70, Scott Campbell 72 67, Colin Nel 68 71, Peter Karmis 68 71
-4 – Rhys Enoch 68 73, Heinrich Bruiners 69 72, Zack Byrd 72 69, Sean Bradley 66 74, Mark Williams 67 73, Oliver Bekker 70 71, Adilson Da Silva 70 71, Titch Moore 70 71, Ulrich van den Berg 70 71, Keenan Davidse 72 68, Louis de Jager 71 70, Stephen Ferreira 70 70, Jonathan Agren 67 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 71, Francesco Laporta 70 71, Tyrone Ryan 69 71, Aubrey Beckley 73 68
-3 – JC Ritchie 66 76, Jean Hugo 72 69, Andrew van der Knaap 71 70, Herman Loubser 74 68, Justin Harding 71 71, Jack Doherty 70 71, Daniel Greene 73 68, Jared Harvey 68 73
-2 – Jack McDonald 71 72, Dongkwan Kim 70 73, Ben Eccles 73 69, Rourke van der Spuy 73 70, Tyrone Ferreira 69 73, Danie Van Niekerk 74 69, Alan McLean 73 69
-1 – Christiaan Basson 69 74, Luke Joy 71 73, Shaun Norris 71 73, JJ Senekal 72 71, Dean Burmester 74 70, Ryan Cairns 70 73, Jake Roos 72 71, Andrew Curlewis 70 74, Andre De Decker 70 74, Morten Orum Madsen 69 75, Andrew Georgiou 72 71, Doug McGuigan 75 69
Par – Rhys West 73 72, Chris Cannon 70 75, Jbe’ Kruger 74 71, George Coetzee 78 67, Anton Haig 70 74, Jack Harrison 75 69, Merrick Bremner 72 73, Hennie Otto 77 68, Damon Stephenson 76 69, Michiel Bothma 71 73, Neil Schietekat 70 75, Ross McGowan 72 73, Christopher Mivis 74 71, CJ du Plessis 72 72, Francois Coetzee 73 72
+1 – Andrew Odoh 70 76, Gerard du Plooy 74 71, Martin Rohwer 73 73, Steven Ferreira 71 75, Matthew Spacey 75 70, Charl Coetzee 73 73, Wallie Coetsee 71 75, Thriston Lawrence 75 71, Chris Lloyd 73 73, Marc Cayeux 72 74, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 74, Derick Petersen 73 72, Martin Rominger 72 74, Steve Surry 75 71, Desne Van Den Bergh 72 74
+2 – Matthew Carvell 73 73, Lyle Rowe 74 73, Hennie du Plessis 73 73, Bryce Easton 78 69, Omar Sandys 71 76, Erik van Rooyen 71 76, Antonio Rosado 75 71, Allan Versfeld 72 75, Ian Ansett 74 72
+3 – Antoine Rozner 78 70, Dwayne Basson 72 76, Stuart Smith 73 74, Gert Myburgh 77 70, Ryan Tipping 73 75, Toto Thimba 76 72, Jason Viljoen 72 75, MJ Daffue 72 75, James Erkenbeck 69 79, Chris Swanepoel 72 76
+4 – Gerrit Foster 71 78, Irvin Mazibuko 72 77, Theunis Spangenberg 75 74
+5 – Allister de Kock 77 73, Jason Diab 74 76, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 72 78, Ruan Huysamen 77 72, Antonio Costa 74 76, Matias Calderon 78 72, Altaaf Bux 73 77
+6 – Jacquin Hess 75 76, Sipho Bujela 76 74, Teaghan Gauche 77 73, Romain Langasque 74 77, Andrew Burmester 73 77, Matthew Rushton 76 75
+7 – Alex Haindl 79 72, Arthur Horne 75 77, Coert Groenewald 70 82
+8 – Michael Palmer 77 76, Billy Spooner 70 83, Benjamin Follett-Smith 72 81, Combrinck Smit 74 78, Luca Cianchetti 79 74, Wynand Dingle 76 76
+9 – Stefan Engell Andersen 75 79
+10 – Jeff Inglis 76 79
+12 – N.J. Arnoldi 72 85, Neil Cheetham 79 77
+13 – Quintin Wilsnach 74 84
+14 – Cameron Esau 72 87
+16 – Jason Smith 78 83, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 79 82
+18 – James Kamte 75 88
DSQ – Makhetha Mazibuko DSQ 73
Photo: Luke Walker/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
