Pepler in slender lead ahead of final round in Soweto

Gerhard Pepler fired in a second-round two-under-par 70 on Wednesday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Altron Big Easy Tour event held at Soweto Country Club in Pimville.

“Top of the leaderboard before the final round feels better than playing to make the cut every week,” said Pepler who has now relocated from Limpopo to Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estates. “but I will not change my game tomorrow; I started this week playing aggressively and attacking most flags and it seems to have worked, so there will be no change in strategy.”

A faulty start saw him drop on the first hole but Pepler recovered with a par on the second before birdieing the third. He made another par on the fourth before making his second birdie on the front stretch – this time on the fifth. After four straight pars, Pepler found another birdie on the 10th and another on the 12th. His only drop on the homeward stretch came on the 15th hole but Pepler had already done enough to seal a round of 70 to assume the top position ahead of the final round.

“This course is tough because you must hit the greens in regulation,” added Pepler of how he intends to approach the final round. “You can hit driver everywhere but you must stay in the fairway, that helps. You also need to make your putts, of course, but you always need to keep it in play.

“Closer to the end of the round, I might want to play a little bit defensive but that’s not going to be my thinking at the beginning. I’ve been attacking the whole week and when I tried to play defensive, I seemed to make a lot of mistakes, so it’s going to be an all-out attack in the beginning and we’ll see how the round goes and if I must change to defence.”

He leads Ryan Tipping by a single stroke, with the veteran Tipping still harbouring the memories of his loss to Franklin Manchest here in April last year.

“The front nine is a lot tougher than the back and I was pleased with nine straight pars there,” said Tipping, “My goal was to get through there level-par or minus one and have a go at the back nine. I think did what I went out to do.”

Members of the Papwa Sewgolum Class of 2022/23 Musiwalo Nethunzwi – a member here – and Makhetha Mazibuko will feel they have a shot at glory in Soweto. They are tied fourth on four-under and just two shots back after 36 holes.

“This is my home course and I always have a few holes where I know I will make a birdie or two,” said Nethunzwi ahead of the final round. “I don’t mind chasing because it challenges my mental strength.”

This is the seventh of 10 Altron Big Easy Tour tournaments scheduled for this season, with six different winners already crowned champions, including two amateurs from the GolfRSA National Elite Squad.

The Big Easy Tour was founded in 2011 with support from Ernie Els and counts current international star Christiaan Bezuidenhout among its former Order of Merit winners.

SCORES:

138 - Gerhard Pepler 68 70

139 - Ryan Tipping 69 70

140 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 68 72

141 - Vaughn van Deventer 71 70

142 - Matthew Rushton 72 70, Adriel Poonan 71 71, Jacquin Hess 68 74, Franklin Manchest 70 72

143- Dwayne Basson 72 71, Keanu Pestana 71 72, Evance Vukeya 70 73, Carlo Heunis 70 73, Philip Geerts 72 71, Jason Froneman 71 72, Lincon Denzy Cele 73 70

144 - Dylan O'Leary 75 69, Kieron van Wyk 72 72, Chris Cannon 71 73, Ruan de Smidt 70 74, Samuel Simpson 72 72, Stuart Krog 73 71

145 - Coert Groenewald 72 73, Yurav Premlall 76 69, Gregory Mckay 73 72, Noel Anderson 68 77, LB Boshoff 70 75, Irvin Mazibuko 70 75

146 - Sentanio Minnie 74 72, Keegan Mclachlan 75 71, Henning du Plooy 73 73, Zabastian de Jager 73 73, Bradley Diggeden 72 74, DK Kim 73 73

Missed the cut:-

147 - Nicholaus Frade 71 76, Luke Trocado 76 71, Regan Steyn 73 74, Richard Kruger 76 71, Carlos Laranja 74 73

148 - Karabo Mokoena 72 76, Casey Jarvis 71 77, Aneurin Gounden 75 73, Siyanda Mwandla 69 79, Tristin Galant 75 73, James Kamte 71 77, James Pennington 76 72

149 - Jason Roets 71 78, Jastice Mashego 74 75, Marthin Scheepers 76 73

150 - Steven Le Roux 73 77, Willie Olivier 79 71, Ricky Hendler 75 75, Slade Pickering 73 77, Lwazi Gqira 74 76, Rigardt Albertse 73 77, Tumelo Molloyi 78 72

151 - Alphius Kelapile 73 78, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 75 76, Sipho Bujela 79 72, Reinhardt Blaauw 73 78, Fezekile Kana 75 76

152 - Cameron Moralee 76 76, Robson Saurombe 79 73, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 80 72, Allister de Kock 74 78, Thanda Mavundla 75 77

153- Keelan Africa 79 74, Lindani Ndwandwe 77 76, Jonathan Waschefort 75 78, Joe Knox 77 76, Mike Maile 76 77, Omar Sandys 75 78

154 - Chase Paton 81 73, Mark Maart 74 80, Leon Visser 75 79, Thabang Simon 76 78

155- Teboho Sefatsa 77 78, Jean Van Niekerk 79 76, Shalan Govender 80 75, Jack Duthie 75 80, John Bele 78 77

156 - Ethan Joseph 75 81, Jordan Duminy 79 77

158 - Francois van Staden 77 81, Slenda Sithebe 79 79

159- Murad Hoosen 79 80

160 - Thabo Moraba 80 80

161 - Byron van der Merwe 75 86

162- SP Mthethwa 79 83

163 - Boeta Nasie 84 79, Ricco Motsa 82 81

164- Lindani Mthiyane 82 82

165 - Sandy Makume 78 87

168- Thato Maponyane 84 84

RTD - Keaton Slatter 77 RTD

DSQ - Ethan Smith 76 DSQ