A second round score of eight-under par 64 on Friday took Jaco Prinsloo’s total for the week to 16-under and opened a five-shot lead at the top of the leaderboard of the final event in the Vodacom Origins of Golf series being played at Simola Golf and Country Estate.
It was his second 64 of the week and it ensured that Prinsloo would take a very healthy cushion over Ockie Strydom into the final round.
‘I’m very, very happy, you know,’ said Prinsloo in reaction to his second-round performance.
‘It’s been a battle to stay ahead once I’ve been ahead or close to the lead. Again, today I didn’t watch the leaderboard. I know Ockie has been playing well recently, and I know he likes this course too, so I thought he might be up there. But it was nice to be calm out there.’
In what was another solid round of golf by Prinsloo, his only bogey of the day came on the par-four fourth hole, but he quickly made amends for that with a birdie on five and another on seven. His back nine, however, was more eventful as he made four more birdies and an eagle there to ensure that whoever was chasing had their work cut out for them.
And keeping that chase alive, although five shots behind on 11-under, were Strydom, who has been runner-up three times this season already, Teagan Gauche whose eight-under 64 second round catapulted him to a share of second, and Doug McGuigan, who has won two Vodacom events this season. Strydom signed for an unblemished six-under par 66 in yet another exhibition of good form by the 32-year-old. Arguably playing his best season – albeit without a win yet – Strydom refuses to put pressure on himself on account of the good results he’s been getting this season.
‘Look, a win for me at the moment? Sooner or later. So, it will come at the right time,’ Strydom said.
‘But I’m pushing for a win. It’s going to come. I think I have about 10 second-places now, so that win must be close by.’
He will have to remain consistent for that to happen because a shot behind Gauche, McGuigan and himself, are Zander Lombard and Jason Froneman on 10-under.
Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira, Chile’s Matias Calderon, JP Strydom and Keenan Davidse share seventh on nine-under for the week, while Dwayne Basson’s 10-under 62 ensured that he and seven others shared the 10th spot on eight-under.
Second round leaderboard:
128 – Jaco Prinsloo 64 64
133 – Ockie Strydom 67 66, Teaghan Gauche 69 64, Doug McGuigan 69 64
134 – Zander Lombard 65 69, Jason Froneman 69 65
135 – Stephen Ferreira 65 70, Keenan Davidse 69 66, Jean-Paul Strydom 67 68, Matias Calderon 67 68
136 – Dwayne Basson 74 62, Charl Coetzee 70 66, Jacques Blaauw 66 70, Heinrich Bruiners 71 65, Michael Palmer 70 66, Thriston Lawrence 71 65, Tyrone Ferreira 69 67, MJ Viljoen 70 66
137 – Jean Hugo 67 70, Omar Sandys 70 67, Justin Harding 71 66, Kyle Barker 69 68, Marc Cayeux 66 71, Scott Campbell 69 68, Neil O’Briain 72 65, Rhys West 71 66, Louis de Jager 71 66, Colin Nel 67 70
138 – Riekus Nortje 72 66, Rourke van der Spuy 71 67, Steven Ferreira 70 68, Breyten Meyer 69 69, Jason Smith 68 70, Daniel Greene 67 71, Benjamin Follett-Smith 69 69, Titch Moore 71 67
139 – Jacquin Hess 72 67, Peter Karmis 70 69, Ryan Cairns 69 70, Neil Schietekat 68 71, Ulrich van den Berg 72 67, Wynand Dingle 69 70
Missed the cut:
140 – Danie Van Niekerk 73 67, JC Ritchie 71 69, Callum Mowat 72 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 73 67, Lyle Rowe 69 71, Martin Rominger 70 70, Herman Loubser 74 66
141 – Chris Swanepoel 67 74, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 69 72, Andrew Curlewis 73 68, Coert Groenewald 69 72, Jaco Mouton 73 68, Andrew Georgiou 68 73, Jared Harvey 73 68, Jake Redman 72 69, Combrinck Smit 76 65, Dongkwan Kim 74 67
142 – Desne Van Den Bergh 71 71, Andrew van der Knaap 68 74, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 70, Andre Nel 69 73, Ryan Tipping 72 70, Morne Buys 71 71, Matthew Spacey 68 74, Antonio Costa 71 71, Pieter Kruger 69 73
143 – Stefan Engell Andersen 70 73, Michael Hollick 74 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 69 74, Francois van Vuuren 73 70
144 – Hennie Otto 72 72, Sipho Bujela 71 73, Martin Rohwer 74 70, Altaaf Bux 74 70, Alan Michell 74 70, Tyrone Ryan 72 72, Theunis Spangenberg 69 75, Anton Haig 70 74, Thanda Mavundla 70 74, Gert Myburgh 74 70
145 – Jason Viljoen 70 75, Francois Coetzee 72 73, Jason Diab 74 71, Eugen Marugi 69 76, Bryandrew Roelofsz 74 71, Gerard du Plooy 71 74, Vaughn Groenewald 68 77, Antonio Rosado 74 71
146 – Arthur Horne 76 70, Cameron Esau 74 72, Irvin Mazibuko 71 75, Bradford Vaughan 75 71, N.J. Arnoldi 71 75, Wallie Coetsee 71 75, Aubrey Beckley 72 74, Allan Versfeld 75 71
147 – James Kamte 74 73, Oliver Bekker 70 77, Allister de Kock 71 76, PH McIntyre 73 74
148 – CJ du Plessis 72 76, Quintin Wilsnach 73 75, Greg Bentley 75 73, Sean Bradley 74 74
149 – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 76 73, Mohit Mediratta 78 71
150 – Dayne Moore 71 79
151 – Gerrit Foster 73 78
RTD – Matthew Carvell RTD RTD, Stuart Smith 68 RTD
