Merrick Bremner found something that has been missing in his putting on Friday as he finished the second round of the Cape Town Open presented by Sun International at King David Mowbray Golf Club in a share of the lead.
Bremner made an eagle, five birdies and just a single bogey on his way to his six-under-par 66, and that saw him draw level with first-round leader Peter Karmis at the top of the leaderboard. They were a single shot clear of third-placed Justin Harding, with Rhys Enoch of Wales a further shot back on 11-under-par at halfway.
‘I’ve been struggling a bit with my putter and I seem to have found something this week thanks to my good friend Chris Swanepoel,’ he said.
As always, there was more to Bremner’s game than putting.
‘I hit the ball well on the front nine and got a lot of opportunities,’ he said. ‘I hit the ball close and I was just happy to convert the chances. I got off to a quick start, so I’m happy to come in the way I did. I missed a couple of chances later on in the round, but overall, I’m very pleased.’
After the heat of the first round, conditions were substantially different for the second round in drought-stricken Cape Town as it clouded over, some wind picked up and it actually rained a little.
‘Can you imagine rain in Cape Town?’ asked Bremner. ‘The wet and cold didn’t really have an effect on my game, but the wind was from the opposite direction to yesterday, so two of the par-fives – 10 and five – played downwind and that made it a little easier today.’
Karmis, who was flawless in his opening nine-under-par, dropped two shots in his second round of four-under-par 68. It was an eventful opening five holes for the man from Clovelly as he eagled his opening hole – the 10th, dropped shots on the 11th and 13th and made birdies on the 12th and 14th.
He kept it tidy thereafter and made two more birdies coming home to share the lead with Bremner.
Harding, who plays his golf out of Stellenbosch, was flawless on his way to a five-under 67, while behind him, new professional Kyle McClatchie continued his golden run of form with a 67 as well as he led a big group on 10-under in a share of fifth.
For Bremner, the round presents him an opportunity to turn his fortunes around. They have been pretty bleak lately with only a single top-10 finish in the last six months.
‘Tied for the lead going into the weekend is not what I’m used to over the last few months,’ he said.
‘I hope I can just keep going. Just try and hit repeat and keep doing what I’m doing.’
Second round leaderboard:
131 – Peter Karmis 63 68, Merrick Bremner 65 66
132 – Justin Harding 65 67
133 – Rhys Enoch 64 69
134 – Kyle McClatchie 67 67, Damon Stephenson 67 67, Keenan Davidse 66 68, Colin Nel 68 66, Vaughn Groenewald 65 69, JC Ritchie 64 70
135 – Martin Rohwer 65 70, Tyrone Ferreira 68 67, Jack Harrison 67 68, Oliver Bekker 65 70, Toby Tree 66 69
136 – Anthony Michael 72 64, Ryan Cairns 65 71, Jean-Paul Strydom 70 66, Toto Thimba 68 68, Chris Lloyd 67 69, Danie Van Niekerk 67 69, Michael Hollick 68 68, James Kingston 66 70
137 – Luke Joy 68 69, Romain Langasque 69 68, Ockie Strydom 67 70, Neil Schietekat 67 70, Daniel van Tonder 68 69, Jaco Ahlers 65 72, Jared Harvey 69 68, Hennie du Plessis 65 72, Mark Williams 65 72, Jean Hugo 65 72, Lyle Rowe 65 72
138 – Antoine Rozner 66 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 67 71, Zack Byrd 71 67, Rourke van der Spuy 66 72, Jason Froneman 70 68, Quintin Wilsnach 68 70, Scott Campbell 67 71, Steve Surry 69 69, James Kamte 65 73, Ulrich van den Berg 70 68, Ruan de Smidt 69 69, Andre De Decker 67 71
139 – Matthew Carvell 71 68, Bryce Easton 70 69, Tyrone Ryan 69 70, JJ Senekal 68 71, Shaun Norris 71 68, Louis de Jager 68 71, Wallie Coetsee 68 71
140 – Andrew Georgiou 70 70, Rhys West 69 71, Tjaart van der Walt 70 70, Francesco Laporta 70 70, CJ du Plessis 72 68, Ruan Huysamen 67 73, Nyasha Muyambo 67 73, Callum Mowat 71 69, Christiaan Basson 67 73, Titch Moore 70 70, Herman Loubser 69 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 71 69
Missed the cut:
141 – Desne Van Den Bergh 72 69, Matthew Spacey 71 70, Billy Spooner 68 73, Dayne Moore 70 71, Chris Cannon 71 70, Jason Viljoen 69 72, Martin Rominger 71 70, Altaaf Bux 68 73, Wynand Dingle 74 67, Charl Coetzee 70 71, Doug McGuigan 69 72, MJ Viljoen 72 69, Jaco Prinsloo 66 75, Morten Orum Madsen 70 71, Riekus Nortje 71 70, Jake Roos 68 73
142 – Antonio Costa 70 72, Theunis Spangenberg 74 68, N.J. Arnoldi 75 67, Allan Versfeld 68 74, Neil O’Briain 68 74, Cody Martin 68 74, Marc Cayeux 71 71, Andrew Curlewis 69 73, Dawie Van der Walt 70 72, Alex Haindl 70 72, Luke Jerling 70 72
143 – Dwayne Basson 74 69, Dongkwan Kim 73 70, Teaghan Gauche 73 70, Chris Swanepoel 71 72, Jonathan Agren 69 74, Coert Groenewald 70 73, Stuart Smith 70 73, Combrinck Smit 72 71, Matias Calderon 72 71, Hennie Otto 71 72, Scott Vincent 69 74
144 – Andrew van der Knaap 72 72, Antonio Rosado 68 76, Gerrit Foster 74 70, Heinrich Bruiners 75 69, Ian Ansett 70 74, Omar Sandys 71 73, Jacques Blaauw 70 74, Andre Nel 70 74, Francois Coetzee 69 75
145 – Jack McDonald 75 70, Thriston Lawrence 75 70, Stephen Ferreira 71 74, Pieter Kruger 72 73, Ryan Tipping 75 70, Garth Mulroy 70 75, Jason Smith 72 73
146 – Jake Redman 71 75, Derick Petersen 72 74, PH McIntyre 73 73, Michael Palmer 68 78
147 – Matthew Rushton 71 76, James Wade 69 78, Breyten Meyer 76 71, Steven Ferreira 72 75, Mervyn Galant 74 73, Allister de Kock 72 75, Madalitso Muthiya 70 77, Aubrey Beckley 72 75
148 – Gert Myburgh 71 77, Michiel Bothma 72 76, Sipho Bujela 75 73
149 – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 75 74, Jack Kutumane 75 74, Jacquin Hess 74 75, Alan Michell 74 75, Mike Michell 75 74, Jason Diab 73 76, Gerard du Plooy 76 73, Cameron Esau 70 79
150 – Makhetha Mazibuko 75 75, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 77 73, Sean Bradley 71 79
151 – Stefan Engell Andersen 79 72, Andrew Mackie 77 74, Brian Gondo 78 73, Brett Liddle 75 76
152 – John Parkinson 78 74
153 – Gregg Upton 78 75
156 – Keagan Beyer 76 80, Greg Bentley 80 76
157 – Luca Cianchetti 79 78
158 – Johan Engelbrecht 79 79
163 – TJ Biggs 80 83
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
