Rourke van der Spuy shot a five-under-par 67 second round to total seven under and take a two-shot lead to the weekend at the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open.
Starting off the 10th hole on Friday, Van der Spuy made his intentions quite clear from the onset as he made consecutive birdies on his first three holes. He then took a par on the next hole before dropping on the 14th, his fifth hole. He steadied himself nicely to make par on the tough par-three 15th and another on the 16th. Those were followed by a birdie and a par at the halfway mark.
‘The game, all-round, has been pretty solid,’ said Van der Spuy.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s been a stripe show, to be honest, but I’ve missed it in the right places. The putter was probably the club I was most happy with today. I made a few good putts from inside six feet, which on these greens, it certainly helps the scorecard and keeps the momentum going.’
Following that par on his ninth, Van der Spuy made further gains at the turn with an important birdie which was followed by seven straight pars. Another birdie on the last hole made its way on to his card to give him a 67 for the day.
Overnight leader Colin Nel’s second round 71 was enough to leave him within touching distance of Van der Spuy, taking his total to five under for the week and two shots behind.
Sharing the second spot on the leaderboard ahead of the weekend is Daniel van Tonder who seems to have found something in his game lately. Like Van der Spuy, he also signed for a 67. His front nine wasn’t bad at all, having made four birdies and dropped two shots there to turn in 34. The drop he made on the 13th didn’t look like it would help his course either, but suddenly, he showed why he should never be counted out of any tournament.
Four birdies one after the other from the 15th through to the last hole catapulted him to a share of second on five under for the week.
Jake Roos’ level-par kept him in the hunt ahead of moving day while Justin Harding’s 73 took only a single shot from the five under he’d gone home with, leaving him tied with Roos on four under.
Second round leaderboard:
137 – Rourke van der Spuy 70 67
139 – Colin Nel 68 71, Daniel van Tonder 72 67
140 – Jake Roos 68 72, Justin Harding 67 73
141 – Phillip Kasozi 69 72, Louis de Jager 69 72, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 69 72, Lyle Rowe 73 68, Doug McGuigan 72 69
142 – Alex Haindl 71 71, Jean Hugo 71 71, Philip Eriksson 72 70, Louis Albertse 73 69, Jonathan Agren 70 72, Neil Schietekat 73 69
143 – Ryan Cairns 71 72, JJ Senekal 69 74, Tyrone Ferreira 74 69, Toto Thimba 70 73, Jake Redman 71 72, Steven Lecuyer 69 74, Fredrik From 74 69, Chris Cannon 71 72, Jared Harvey 76 67, Mark Williams 73 70, Keenan Davidse 74 69
144 – Thriston Lawrence 71 73, Jaco Prinsloo 75 69, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 72 72, Martin Rohwer 76 68, Ockie Strydom 73 71
145 – Christiaan Basson 70 75, Steve Surry 71 74, Dayne Moore 73 72, Andrew Odoh 76 69, Teboho Sefatsa 76 69, Stephen Ferreira 74 71, JC Ritchie 70 75, Peter Karmis 73 72, Jason Froneman 73 72
146 – Luke Jerling 72 74, Vaughn Groenewald 76 70, Ulrich van den Berg 75 71, Breyten Meyer 72 74, Merrick Bremner 76 70, Wynand Dingle 71 75, James Hart du Preez 73 73, Luke Joy 76 70, Ryan Tipping 73 73, Wallie Coetsee 77 69
147 – Lindani Ndwandwe 73 74, Ruan Conradie 74 73, Andrew van der Knaap 77 70, Basil Wright 74 73, Titch Moore 77 70, Jason Viljoen 72 75
148 – Tyler Hogarty 74 74, Oliver Bekker 75 73, Thabang Simon 70 78
Missed the cut:
149 – Andre De Decker 74 75, Hennie du Plessis 77 72, MJ Viljoen 72 77, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 74 75, Aubrey Beckley 75 74, Matthew Carvell 76 73, James Kamte 76 73, Jade Buitendag 76 73, Wayne Stroebel 76 73
150 – Michael Hollick 75 75, Anton Haig 78 72, Philip Geerts 72 78, Pieter Moolman 78 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 76 74, Madalitso Muthiya 76 74, Riekus Nortje 79 71, Cody Martin 75 75, Herman Loubser 78 72
151 – Keelan Africa 76 75, Coert Groenewald 75 76
152 – Sydney Wemba 77 75, Estiaan Conradie 74 78, Theunis Bezuidenhout 74 78, Jason Smith 75 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 76 76
153 – Bruce McDonald 74 79, Bryce Easton 76 77, Andre Nel 80 73, Franklin Manchest 76 77, Sipho Bujela 76 77, James Kingston 78 75, Ruan de Smidt 78 75
154 – Callum Mowat 73 81, Altaaf Bux 79 75, Erhard Lambrechts 80 74, N.J. Arnoldi 74 80, Jacquin Hess 75 79, Michael Palmer 77 77, Jacques P de Villiers 74 80
155 – Marthin Scheepers 79 76, Combrinck Smit 79 76, Scott Campbell 76 79, Gabriel Chibale 77 78, Rhys West 77 78
156 – Damon Stephenson 76 80, Bennie van der Merwe 77 79, Teaghan Gauche 74 82, Paul Chidale 74 82, Irvin Mazibuko 79 77, Jabulane Mabilane 79 77
157 – Trainos Muradzikwa 81 76
158 – Aaron Simfukwe Jnr 78 80, Beza Daka 79 79, Raphael Phiri 78 80, Desne Van Den Bergh 77 81, Matias Calderon 80 78, Sean Bradley 76 82, Denmark Mulambo 76 82
159 – Stuart Smith 81 78, Omar Sandys 79 80, TC Charamba 80 79
161 – Ty Capps 81 80, Michael Schutz 84 77
162 – Michael Scholz 82 80
163 – Grant Veenstra 83 80, Henry Mwanza 83 80, Stalion Daka 84 79
164 – Geoffrey Banda 85 79, Bwembwa Chanda 84 80, Francis Musonda 85 79
167 – Patrick Mwendapole 85 82
168 – Kayyam Rauf Mandhu 88 80
169 – Mwalikwa Sondashi 84 85
170 – Zebron Nkhoma 84 86
172 – Dominic Musonda 87 85
176 – Nicholas Dolamore 86 90
177 – Matengele Kaira 87 90
WDN – Jbe’ Kruger 73 WDN, Phumlani Maluka 90 WDN, Gibson Mutoya 86 WDN, Akil Yousuf 87 WDN
