France’s Maxence Giboudot produced a sublime 64 to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend of the SDC Open, but with Welshman Rhys Enoch as one of his nearest challengers as he seeks to make history in this event.
Giboudot heads the field on 11 under par following a round which he said was “hot and tough and wild” at the Zebula Golf Estate & Spa on Friday.
“That’s very welcome. It was hot and tough, but everything I could control went well. I felt like I played well, but nothing crazy. The short game was really good today. All my wedges were close and I made some putts towards the end of the round. But it’s wild out there. The rough is wild. You have to be on the fairway here,” said Giboudot, who is currently in his third season on the HotelPlanner Tour and is looking to become the second French winner of this title after Clement Sordet in 2022.
He leads by one over Enoch, who signed for a second round of 65, South Africa’s Martin Vorster, who posted a 69, and Spain’s Joel Moscatel, who added a 65.
Giboudot is chasing a strong season on the HotelPlanner Tour in the hopes of graduating to the DP World Tour at the end of the season and joining former graduates and countrymen Martin Couvra, and Oihan Guillamoundeguy on the main tour.
“They make me want to get up there with them. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said.
Behind him, Enoch won the 2024 SDC Open and he’s now put himself in a great position to become the only player in the tournament’s history to win this title twice.
“I have a lot of memories of my win here. Every hole and every pin position I’ve already seen. It just brings back really good emotions all the time and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in on the weekend,” he said.
“It was a lovely day – one of the nicest rounds I’ve played in a long time. My short game let me down in the first round, but it was a lot better today. I think we all thought the scoring would be a little bit worse because the greens are firmer and faster than when we’ve played here before. But it’s still scoreable. If you play sensible when you’re in the rough you can still shoot a score.” Vorster continued to benefit from his new focus.
“My goal for this week has not been scores at all. It’s been about executing routines and just playing the course smartly. It’s nice to be in contention and I’m really excited for the weekend.”
SCORES
-11 - Maxence Giboudot 69 64
-10 - Martin Vorster 65 69
-10 - Rhys Enoch 69 65, Joel Moscatel 69 65
-9 - Jaco Ahlers 67 68
-9 - Jannik de Bruyn 70 65
-8 - Pieter Moolman 72 64
-8 - Herman Loubser 68 68, Hurly Long 72 64, MJ Viljoen 66 70, Pablo Ereno 69 67
-7 - Julien Sale 67 70
-7 - Robin Williams 70 67, Luke Brown 67 70, Jordan Burnand 68 69, Tobias Eden 68 69, Baard Skogen 72 65, Graham van der Merwe 68 69, Kyle Barker 69 68
-6 - Lucas Vacarisas 69 69