Stacy Bregman didn’t drop a shot on Friday on her way to a four-under-par 68 in the second round of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s R1.1-million Standard Bank Ladies Open at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington’s West Course.
Bregman started her second round steadily from the 10th, picking up just a single birdie on her front nine on the par-five 11th, but she got going properly on her back nine as she picked up birdies on 4, 7 and 9.
She reached five under for the tournament, giving her a one-stroke lead over first-round leader Cara Gorlei heading into Saturday’s final round.
“I’m very happy. It’s good to have a bogey-free round,” said Bregman. “I’ve been doing a lot of good work with my coach, John Dixon, and it’s slowly starting to take shape.”
Her four-under-par was the best score of the day, with the next-best performance coming from Nadia van der Westhuizen, whose three-under-par 69 lifted her to two under for the tournament and a share of fifth with Lee-Anne Pace.
They were one shot back from rookie Kiera Floyd and veteran Tandi McCallum, who shared third on three under after rounds of two under and one over respectively.
For Bregman, it was her work on the greens on the revamped course which led to her good score.
“I putted really well today,” she said. “I felt I rolled it really well. The greens haven’t been perfect, because they are still so new. But I also hit it really well, and I converted putts when I needed to.”
Bregman is a five-time winner on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, including three wins in 2015. Her last win on the circuit came in 2018 in the Canon Tshwane Ladies Open, so a performance like her 68 was very encouraging.
“It was one of those rounds where it felt easy,” she said. “It wasn’t really a grind which was quite nice for a change. I felt great for it to feel as if it was just coming naturally. I felt comfortable out there today.”
Gorlei who led the first round at five under struggled with five bogeys on her card in the second round, but she was able to limit the damage with four birdies and stay in the fray, just one back.
Bregman is well aware of the challenge which lies ahead of her should she wish to step back into the winner’s circle.
“Going into the final round, I’ve just got to carry on doing the same processes,” she said. “I can’t get ahead of myself, and that should be enough. It has been a while since I won, and there has been so much progress that a lot of people don’t see unfortunately. But things have been so close, so it would be really cool tomorrow to pull it off.”
Reigning SA Women’s Stroke Play champion Sam Whateley set the pace in the amateur challenge.
The 18-year-old Country Club Johannesburg junior fired a one-under 71 to finish on two under in a tie for 10th with Brittney-Fay Berger, Kelsey Nicholas and Casandra Alexander, who won the Jabra Ladies Classic and the SuperSport Ladies Challenge earlier this season.
SA Women’s Amateur finalist Ellandri van Heerden is two strokes further back.
Tune in to SuperSport channel 213 from 9am for live coverage of the final round.
