Daniel van Tonder will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf after he signed for five-under-par 67 in the second round at Zebula Country Club on Friday.
Van Tonder climbed up the leaderboard from the share of fifth he occupied after the opening round to claim top spot with Jaco Prinsloo and Thriston Lawrence one shot off the pace.
Teeing off the 10th, Van Tonder made three birdies on 12, 15 and 18 – his third, sixth and ninth holes – to turn in 33. His progress was halted, albeit for a while, when he dropped a shot on the first hole of the course, his 10th. That was quickly followed by two consecutive birdies, but that joy was short-lived as an unwanted bogey on 13 made its way onto his card. And then, suddenly, his round came alive with an eagle on the last hole.
‘The conditions this morning was not bad,’he said.
‘And then the wind started picking up a bit on the second hole. On a few holes, I was almost taking four clubs more and trying to keep the ball. The layout here is very nice and it was a good round.’
Van Tonder does not want to put pressure on himself ahead the final day of this first event of the Vodacom Origins of Golf series which is in its 15th season. ‘I am thinking of just not thinking about anything. I will just go out there and play 18 holes and think I am behind,’ he said.
With his wife, Abigail, on the bag and at hand to calm him down when things are not going according to plan, Van Tonder said he’s a much different player to the ‘wild in the head’ of past seasons.
‘I am a different kind of person. I am not the wild in the head that you know sometimes,’ he said.
‘It is quite nice, she is doing her own things. She understands me and I understand her. I think it just took a while to gel.’
Overnight leader JC Ritchie, Alex Haindl and Neil Schietekat are also in contention but a further two shots behind Van Tonder.
Second round leaderboard:
134 – Daniel van Tonder 67 67
135 – Jaco Prinsloo 68 67, Thriston Lawrence 68 67
136 – Alex Haindl 66 70, Neil Schietekat 65 71, JC Ritchie 66 70
137 – Toto Thimba 67 70
138 – Garth Mulroy 69 69
139 – Wynand Dingle 72 67, Colin Nel 64 75, Pieter Moolman 69 70, Doug McGuigan 67 72, Hennie du Plessis 73 66, Anton Haig 74 65, Jean Hugo 69 70, Victor Lange 70 69
140 – Jonathan Agren 69 71, Rhys West 71 69, Zander Lombard 72 68, Jake Roos 71 69, David McIntyre 69 71, Desvonde Botes 70 70
141 – Allister de Kock 68 73, Andre Nel 69 72, Herman Loubser 70 71, Mark Williams 70 71, Wallie Coetsee 70 71, Anthony Michael 72 69, Duane Keun 70 71, Philip Eriksson 71 70, Andre De Decker 73 68, Shaun Norris 72 69
142 – Louis Albertse 69 73, Luke Jerling 72 70, Merrick Bremner 75 67, Martin Rohwer 72 70, Erhard Lambrechts 70 72
143 – Matt Bright 72 71, Tyrone Ferreira 72 71, Louis de Jager 70 73, Jade Buitendag 70 73, Titch Moore 68 75, Kyle McClatchie 74 69, Jabulane Mabilane 68 75, Chris Swanepoel 70 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 70, Andrew Curlewis 72 71, Chris Cannon 71 72, James Pennington 73 70
Missed the cut:
144 – Estiaan Conradie 69 75, Ruan Conradie 73 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 71, Hennie Otto 72 72, Combrinck Smit 71 73, Desne Van Den Bergh 74 70, Fredrik From 72 72, CJ du Plessis 72 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 74 70, Jake Redman 70 74, Callum Mowat 70 74
145 – Michael Schutz 70 75, Aubrey Beckley 71 74, Michael Palmer 73 72, Tyler Hogarty 71 74
146 – James Kamte 70 76, Ruan de Smidt 71 75, MJ Viljoen 72 74, Jaco Van Zyl 75 71, Ockie Strydom 72 74, Stuart Smith 74 72
147 – Heinrich Bruiners 73 74, Jacquin Hess 72 75, Matthew Carvell 74 73, Mohit Mediratta 77 70, Allan Versfeld 73 74, Ulrich van den Berg 76 71
148 – Gideon van der Vyver 76 72, Damon Stephenson 76 72, Rourke van der Spuy 76 72, JJ Senekal 72 76, Ryan Tipping 73 75, Michael Hollick 72 76
149 – Scott Campbell 73 76, Breyten Meyer 71 78, Lyle Rowe 75 74, Theunis Bezuidenhout 77 72, Yubin Jung 75 74, Thabang Simon 71 78, Marc Cayeux 73 76, Christiaan Basson 78 71
150 – Teboho Sefatsa 68 82, Dylan Mostert 76 74, Kyle Barker 76 74, Wayne Stroebel 75 75
151 – Roberto Lupini 77 74, Vaughn Groenewald 74 77, Tyrone Ryan 76 75, Derick Petersen 75 76, Jason Smith 73 78
152 – Luke Trocado 76 76
153 – Stefan Engell Andersen 80 73
155 – Jacques P de Villiers 77 78
156 – Basil Wright 80 76, Riekus Nortje 74 82
157 – Teaghan Gauche 80 77, Marthin Scheepers 77 80
158 – Bennie van der Merwe 76 82, Irvin Mazibuko 83 75, Francois Coetzee 79 79
159 – Jason Viljoen 76 83
161 – Sipho Bujela 80 81
162 – Keelan Africa 82 80
WDN – Philip Geerts 81 WDN
RTD – Divan van den Heever 74 RTD, Thabo Moraba 88 RTD
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
