Bogey-free Bregman leads Standard Bank Ladies Open

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.

She 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 four, seven and nine. 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 09h00 for live coverage of the final round.

SECOND ROUND SCORES

139 - Stacy Bregman 71 68

140 - Cara Gorlei 67 73

141 - Kiera Floyd 71 70, Tandi McCallum 68 73

142 - Lee-Anne Pace 70 72, Nadia van der Westhuizen 73 69

143 - Nicole Garcia 70 73

144 - Ivanna Samu 73 71

145 - Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 70 75

146 - Brittney-Fay Berger 75 71, Casandra Alexander 70 76, Kelsey Nicholas 72 74, Samantha Whateley (a) 75 71

148 - Zethu Myeki 75 73, Tara Griebenow 73 75

149 - Ellandri van Heerden (a) 74 75, Lora Assad 77 72