Spacey chasing glory in FNB Eswatini Challenge

It wasn’t the 62 that he opened the tournament with, but Matthew Spacey’s second round of 70 at the Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate on Friday was still enough to take him into a four-stroke lead going into the final round of the FNB Eswatini Challenge.

Spacey climbed to 12-under-par in this R2 million event and was content with his second round after having extended his lead, with Peter Karmis (70) four strokes behind on eight-under, and Leon Visser, who shot 64 on the first day, tied with Estiaan Conradie on seven-under.

Spacey’s second round began on the 10th hole and he was solid to the turn, with birdies on the 13th and 17th holes seeing him go out in 34.

Matthew Spacey extended his advantage at the top of the leaderboard thanks to this birdie on his penultimate hole. ??#FNBEswatiniChallenge | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/YgXZKIYyjc— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) July 28, 2023

His back nine was more of a struggle, though. Although he birdied the par-four first hole, three bogeys in his next four holes set him back. But Spacey undid much of the damage with a superb eagle on the par-five eighth hole.

“I’m quite happy that I shot under par,” Spacey said. I started well, but then had a wobble, before getting things right with an eagle on my 17th hole.

“There was a bit more breeze today and it picked up in the afternoon. To be honest, I made a few bad swings against it.

“I’m pretty excited about the final round. Anything can happen and I must just stick to my game-plan. Staying patient is what I’ve done really well, just letting things happen,” Spacey said.

The Nkonyeni Estate is comfortably removed from the urban hustle of Manzini, but the bushveld tranquility was definitely challenged by the course posing a real challenge on Friday.

Danie van Niekerk and JP Strydom registered the low rounds of the day with 67s, which lifted both of them into the top-20 on the leaderboard.

Closest to Spacey, however, was the seasoned Karmis, who overcame two bogeys and a double-drop with four birdies and an eagle, also on the eighth, for a 70 to leave him on eight-under, four behind.

Visser and Conradie are a further stroke behind, while Jean Hugo and Stuart Krog both shot 71s to be on six-under-par.

Spacey is four shots clear ahead of the final round tomorrow ??#FNBEswatiniChallenge | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/cZr6thABU5— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) July 28, 2023

SECOND-ROUND SCORES:

132 - Matthew Spacey 62 70

136 - Peter Karmis 66 70

137 - Leon Visser 64 73, Estiaan Conradie 67 70

138 - Jean Hugo 67 71, Stuart Krog 67 71

139 - Callum Mowat 70 69, Luca Filippi 70 69, Danie Van Niekerk 72 67, Ricky Hendler 69 70, Ruan Korb 70 69

140 - Keelan van Wyk 67 73, CJ du Plessis 70 70, Clancy Waugh 72 68, Ryan Van Velzen 71 69, Jean-Paul Strydom 73 67

141 - Rhys West 70 71, Jacques P de Villiers 71 70, DK Kim 71 70, Neil Schietekat 71 70, Heinrich Bruiners 68 73, Louis Albertse 73 68, Gerhard Pepler 68 73, Gerhard Trytsman 70 71

142 - Christiaan Basson 71 71, Luke Brown 71 71, Pierre Pellegrin 69 73, Adam Breen 67 75, Hayden Griffiths 72 70, Quintin Wilsnach 71 71

143 - Drikus Joubert 71 72, Merrick Bremner 75 68, Jacques Blaauw 74 69, Malcolm Mitchell 70 73, Dan Erickson 72 71, Madalitso Muthiya 70 73, Michael Kok 70 73, Kyle Barker 70 73, Allister de Kock 73 70, Wade Jacobs 72 71

144 - Yurav Premlall 74 70, Lyle Rowe 71 73, Jovan Rebula 70 74, Franklin Manchest 72 72, James Mack 75 69, Ruan Conradie 72 72, Erhard Lambrechts 73 71

145 - Dayne Moore 72 73, Keagan Thomas 75 70, Stefan Wears-Taylor 72 73

Missed the cut

146 - Warwick Purchase 72 74, Rourke van der Spuy 74 72, Jonathan Broomhead 73 73, Rupert Kaminski 75 71, Robson Chinhoi 70 76, Sean Bradley 73 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 73, Willie Olivier 78 68, Ethan Smith 76 70

147 - James Pennington 77 70, Lindani Ndwandwe 71 76, Jared Harvey 74 73, Vaughn van Deventer 74 73, Nicholaus Frade 72 75, Combrinck Smit 70 77

148 - Jaco Van Zyl 74 74, Gregory Mckay 76 72, Aneurin Gounden 74 74

149 - Ronald Rugumayo 73 76, Keegan Mclachlan 77 72, Robin Williams 75 74, Wynand Dingle 75 74

150 - Albert Venter 75 75, Toto Thimba Jnr 73 77, Brandon-Jude Rennie 72 78, Jason Roets 70 80, Travis Ladner 76 74, Ruan de Smidt 73 77, Kyle McClatchie 77 73, Jake Redman 72 78, Thabang Simon 77 73

151 - Tristin Galant 75 76, Nikhil Rama 73 78, Dylan Naidoo 78 73, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 76

152 - Conner Mackenzie 79 73

153 - Johan Theron 79 74

154 - Tumelo Molloyi 77 77, Slenda Sithebe 79 75, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 79 75, Jonathan Waschefort 78 76, Teboho Sefatsa 76 78

155 - Mutahi Kibugu 77 78, Hanco Rudolph 74 81, Raymond Mathonsi 78 77, Adriel Poonan 81 74

156 - Alphius Kelapile 79 77, Steven Le Roux 83 73, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 81 75, Reinhardt Blaauw 79 77

157 - Jacobus Pienaar 78 79, Tyron Davidowitz 75 82

158 - Hennie O'Kennedy 80 78, Sentanio Minnie 80 78

159 - Ricco Motsa 76 83, Ryan Tipping 82 77, Jastice Mashego 78 81

161 - Robert Shiba 78 83, Karabo Mokoena 85 76, LB Boshoff 82 79

162 - Evance Vukeya 83 79

165 - Nicholus Vilakati 82 83

166 - Moses Shongwe 80 86

167 - Machawe Maziya 86 81

168 - Meshack Zwane 81 87

170 - Peter Dlamini 84 86

172 - Teddy Vilakati 80 92

174 - Jabulani Mabaso 90 84

WDN - Alex Haindl 79 WDN, Siyanda Mwandla 82 WDN, Oscar Dube 86 WDN

RTD - Christiaan Burke 78 RTD