He’d already made five birdies, when Vaughn Groenewald pulled out his Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt pose during his brilliant eight-under-par 64 on Saturday which saw him into a three-way share of the lead in the Dimension Data Pro-Am being played at Fancourt.
He made three more in a faultless round of 64 on Outeniqua, a good follow-up after his poor one over on Montagu on Friday and a fitting companion to his opening seven under on The Links. The players play a round on each of the three courses, after which a cut is made to the top 60 players and ties. The final round will be played on Montagu.
His three-round total of 14-under-par saw him sharing the top of the leaderboard with Tjaart van der Walt and Breyten Meyer, two strokes clear of Jaco Ahlers.
‘Everything came together again, like the first day,’ said Groenewald. ‘I started hitting it well again. Yesterday, my course management sucked a bit. Today, I just focused on that the whole day. Every shot that I played, I focused on course management. I wanted to hit it in places where it makes it easier to make birdies, even though that meant bailing out a bit.
‘I just trusted my putter and it worked today. I had 26 putts today. I saw the lines really well. I just hit the ball on to the flat parts of the greens and tried to make the putts – and that’s what happened.’
It was a flawless round from the George resident, and he took advantage of the fact that he knows the courses at Fancourt so well. ‘Local knowledge helps a lot,’ he said. ‘Playing with Dongkwan Kim today, he didn’t know what lines to take for the wind. I’ve played the course so many times with different winds. I took totally different lines with drivers and he was just hitting irons out on to the fairway. So it’s a big advantage.’
Van der Walt was also flawless for his five-under 67 on Montagu. He’s only a part-time player now at the age of 43. ‘Since I’ve played less, I’ve actually played a little better,’ he said. ‘I’ve always battled a little fatigue. I played solid today. I drove it well, hit some good irons. Montagu off the back is long for me. I’m used to the club tees! I managed to roll a few putts in, and I managed the conditions well.’
Meyer has made nine consecutive cuts recently, and managed the windy conditions brilliantly at The Links for his six-under-par 67. ‘I woke up this morning with the wind blowing a bit,’ he said. ‘The Links is more exposed, so I knew it was going to be tough. The wind died down a bit after the back nine, so I knew I just had to give myself chances. There are a lot of par-fives. I’ve been putting really well. I made eight birdies in my practice round here. I’ve always played my best rounds on The Links.’
Meyer believes Montagu is the toughest course, and Groenewald doesn’t disagree. ‘Montagu’s a tough course,’ he said. ‘Yesterday I shot 73 there. I was two under at one stage and I just let it go. Tomorrow, I’m just going to go fairways and greens and I’ll probably shoot a good score.’
Third round leaderboard:
203 – Tjaart van der Walt 67 69 67, Vaughn Groenewald 66 73 64, Breyten Meyer 69 67 67
205 – Jaco Ahlers 71 68 66
206 – Jean-Paul Strydom 69 67 70, Anthony Michael 68 66 72, Ockie Strydom 69 68 69, Daniel van Tonder 70 69 67, Justin Walters 68 69 69, Jacques Blaauw 71 66 69
207 – Colin Nel 68 71 68, Francesco Laporta 70 71 66, Keith Horne 68 69 70, Toby Tree 65 72 70, Kyle McClatchie 68 72 67
208 – Neil O’Briain 68 68 72, Titch Moore 70 71 67, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 71 67
209 – Jack Doherty 70 71 68, Rhys Enoch 68 73 68, Alexander Knappe 72 68 69, Tristen Strydom 68 69 72, Adilson Da Silva 70 71 68
210 – Ruan de Smidt 72 63 75, Dawie Van der Walt 69 70 71, Andre Nel 68 69 73, JC Ritchie 66 76 68, Oliver Bekker 70 71 69, Dean Burmester 74 70 66, Justin Harding 71 71 68
211 – George Coetzee 78 67 66, Louis de Jager 71 70 70, Cody Martin 66 71 74, Hennie Otto 77 68 66
212 – Peter Karmis 68 71 73, Andre De Decker 70 74 68, Jean Hugo 72 69 71, Madalitso Muthiya 68 72 72, Zack Byrd 72 69 71, Jake Roos 72 71 69, Merrick Bremner 72 73 67, Scott Vincent 67 72 73
213 – Alan McLean 73 69 71, Jake Redman 70 70 73, MJ Viljoen 69 71 73, Doug McGuigan 75 69 69, Christiaan Basson 69 74 70, Andrew van der Knaap 71 70 72, Riekus Nortje 69 71 73, Shaun Norris 71 73 69, Erik van Rooyen 71 76 66, Ulrich van den Berg 70 71 72, Garth Mulroy 65 74 74
214 – Tyrone Ryan 69 71 74, Aubrey Beckley 73 68 73, Luke Jerling 69 68 77, Jaco Prinsloo 68 72 74, Jbe’ Kruger 74 71 69, Martin Rohwer 73 73 68
215 – Jason Froneman 68 70 77, Daniel Greene 73 68 74, Ben Eccles 73 69 73, Jack McDonald 71 72 72, Heinrich Bruiners 69 72 74, Rourke van der Spuy 73 70 72, Michael Hollick 70 69 76, Luke Joy 71 73 71, Bryce Easton 78 69 68, JJ Senekal 72 71 72, Mark Williams 67 73 75, Jack Harrison 75 69 71, Wallie Coetsee 71 75 69
Missed the cut:-
216 – Chris Swanepoel 72 76 68, Neil Schietekat 70 75 71, Rhys West 73 72 71, Dongkwan Kim 70 73 73, Hennie du Plessis 73 73 70, Sean Bradley 66 74 76, Keenan Davidse 72 68 76, Stephen Ferreira 70 70 76, Jonathan Agren 67 73 76, Chris Lloyd 73 73 70
217 – Morten Orum Madsen 69 75 73, Jared Harvey 68 73 76, Andrew Curlewis 70 74 73, Christopher Mivis 74 71 72, Lyle Rowe 74 73 70, Makhetha Mazibuko DSQ DSQ 75, Charl Coetzee 73 73 71, Ryan Cairns 70 73 74, MJ Daffue 72 75 70
218 – Lindani Ndwandwe 72 74 72, Damon Stephenson 76 69 73, Steve Surry 75 71 72, Ross McGowan 72 73 73, Ian Ansett 74 72 72, Francois Coetzee 73 71 74, Callum Mowat 68 72 78
219 – Michiel Bothma 71 73 75, Derick Petersen 73 72 74, Allan Versfeld 72 75 72, Martin Rominger 72 74 73, Anton Haig 70 74 75, Thriston Lawrence 75 71 73
220 – CJ du Plessis 72 72 76, Andrew Georgiou 72 71 77, Toto Thimba 76 72 72, Matthew Spacey 75 70 75, Steven Ferreira 71 75 74
221 – Antonio Costa 74 76 71, Marc Cayeux 72 74 75, Antoine Rozner 78 70 73, Dwayne Basson 72 76 73, Herman Loubser 74 68 79, Teaghan Gauche 77 73 71
222 – Desne Van Den Bergh 72 74 76, Stuart Smith 73 74 75, Matthew Carvell 73 73 76, Omar Sandys 71 76 75, Romain Langasque 74 77 71
223 – Matthew Rushton 76 75 72, Tyrone Ferreira 69 73 81, Scott Campbell 72 67 84
224 – Gerard du Plooy 74 71 79, Andrew Odoh 70 76 78, Sipho Bujela 76 74 74, Jason Diab 74 76 74, Jason Viljoen 72 75 77, Antonio Rosado 75 71 78, Theunis Spangenberg 75 74 75, Danie Van Niekerk 74 69 81
225 – Gert Myburgh 77 70 78, Chris Cannon 70 75 80
226 – Benjamin Follett-Smith 72 81 73, Allister de Kock 77 73 76, Billy Spooner 70 83 73
227 – Ruan Huysamen 77 72 78, Combrinck Smit 74 78 75, Altaaf Bux 73 77 77, James Erkenbeck 69 79 79, Jeff Inglis 76 79 72, Stefan Engell Andersen 75 79 73, Arthur Horne 75 77 75, Ryan Tipping 73 75 79
228 – Matias Calderon 78 72 78
229 – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 72 78 79, Luca Cianchetti 79 74 76, Alex Haindl 79 72 78, Irvin Mazibuko 72 77 80
230 – Coert Groenewald 70 82 78
231 – Gerrit Foster 71 78 82, Michael Palmer 77 76 78
232 – Andrew Burmester 73 77 82, Quintin Wilsnach 74 84 74, James Kamte 75 88 69
233 – Wynand Dingle 76 76 81
234 – Neil Cheetham 79 77 78
236 – Jacquin Hess 75 76 85
238 – Jason Smith 78 83 77, N.J. Arnoldi 72 85 81
239 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi 79 82 78
240 – Cameron Esau 72 87 81
Photo: Luke Walker/Sunshine Tour
