Jonathan Broomhead says it is crucial to get yourself into good positions at Kyalami Country Club and that is precisely what the 23-year-old did on Thursday as he earned himself a two-stroke lead going into the final round of the Gary & Vivienne Player Challenge.
Broomhead fired a brilliant seven-under-par 65 in Thursday’s second round, leaving him at 12-under for the tournament.
That round was made even more impressive by the fact that he did not get off to a good start at all, making bogey at the first two holes, both par-fours.
“I got off to a bad start thanks to a couple of bad swings that put me in bad positions and led to ‘simple’ bogeys,” Broomhead explained.
“But having done nicely in the first round and seeing a couple of guys shooting nine-under today, there was an eight-under and another seven-under too, I knew there were quite a few birdies out there.
“So it was just a case of having a mental shift after a shaky start when I missed a couple of fairways. I drove the ball very nicely after that, which put me in position to attack the flags and score. I hit the ball well and made some putts.”
With Andrew Williamson the other golfer to shoot 65 on Thursday, lifting him into second place on 10-under, tied with Martin Rohwer (67) and Yurav Premlall, who owned the 64 to continue his great recent form, Broomhead is clear about what he needs to do in the final round to get his second Sunshine Tour title after his impressive victory in the Tour Championship delivered by The Courier Guy in April.
🌅 Sets the lowest round of the day in the morning.
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) August 29, 2024
👷 Goes to work in the afternoon.
It has been an interesting day for @BigEasyTourGolf graduate, Andrew Williamson.#GaryViviennePlayerChallenge #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour
“I’ve kept going with the way I ended off last season by winning the Tour Champs, week-in, week-out I’m just trying to give myself opportunities and I’ve done that with five top-10 finishes this season.
“It’s going to be exciting tomorrow and I’ll just try to play the course as it is. It’s going to be colder, so that makes it tricky. But if you can hit the ball well off the tee and put yourself in good positions then there are a lot of birdies out there because you’ll get a lot of run with the course being so dry. It’s not such a long layout [6631m] and if the bounces go your way then you’ll have a lot of short clubs into the greens,” Broomhead said.
In these conditions, two shots is a handy lead but not enough to feel completely confident of winning.
Apart from the trio in second, with Rohwer having won three times on tour and Premlall having finished second and third twice each this season, there is plenty of winning pedigree near the top of the leaderboard.
Jean Hugo, the owner of 20 Sunshine Tour titles after his victory at Highland Gate two weeks ago, shot a 66 on Thursday to join Christiaan Burke (68) in fifth place on nine-under-par, just three behind Broomhead.
Altin van der Merwe posted a fabulous nine-under 63 on Thursday to join nine-time Sunshine Tour winner Danie van Tonder (66), the champion in Eswatini three weeks ago, and the in-form Rookie of the Year standings leader Kyle de Beer (67) on eight-under, along with Jacques P. de Villiers (69) and Ruan de Smidt (69).
Lyle Rowe was the other golfer to shoot a wonderful 63, lifting him to seven-under-par, five off the lead, along with Christian Kriek (68), Rhys West (67) and Pierre Pellegrin (68).
The leaderboard after 36 holes🔥
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) August 29, 2024
Who will walk away with the 🏆?#Garyvivienneplayerchallenge #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/3XdPnion5U
SCORES
132 - Jonathan Broomhead 67 65
134 - Andrew Williamson 69 65, Martin Rohwer 67 67, Yurav Premlall 70 64
135 - Jean Hugo 69 66, Christiaan Burke 67 68
136 - Kyle De Beer 69 67, Daniel van Tonder 70 66, Jacques P de Villiers 67 69, Ruan de Smidt 67 69, Altin van der Merwe 73 63
137 - Christian Kriek 69 68, Rhys West 70 67, Pierre Pellegrin 69 68, Lyle Rowe 74 63
138 - Jovan Rebula 71 67, Rourke van der Spuy 68 70, Malcolm Mitchell 68 70, Ruan Korb 70 68, Jaco Ahlers 70 68, Nikhil Rama 68 70, James Mack 66 72
139 - Stals Swart 68 71, Ruan Conradie 68 71, Luke Brown 68 71, Neil Schietekat 69 70
140 - Wynand Dingle 70 70, Jacquin Hess 72 68, Simon du Plooy 67 73, Haydn Porteous 70 70, Kyle Barker 68 72, Dylan Naidoo 71 69, Quintin Wilsnach 68 72
141 - Austin Bautista 72 69, CJ du Plessis 70 71, Stuart Krog 75 66, Robson Chinhoi 71 70, Danie Van Niekerk 72 69
142 - Samuel Simpson 72 70, Jake Redman 69 73, Ethan Smith 69 73, Heinrich Bruiners 71 71, Luke Jerling 73 69, Hennie Otto 72 70, Rupert Kaminski 73 69, Brandon Meads 68 74, Regan Steyn 74 68
143 - Albert Venter 71 72, Nick Cunningham 74 69, Otto Van Buynder 70 73, Ricky Hendler 73 70
Missed the cut:
144 - James Pennington 76 68, Callum Mowat 73 71, Doug McGuigan 71 73, Jacob Oakley 71 73, Graham van der Merwe 70 74, Joe Long 72 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71 73, Combrinck Smit 68 76, Hennie O'Kennedy 70 74, Colin Nel 75 69, Christiaan Basson 71 73
145 - Thabiso Ngcobo 72 73, Thanda Mavundla 69 76, Andre De Decker 74 71, DK Kim 73 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 76 69, LB Boshoff 71 74, Ruan Groenewald 71 74, Therion Nel 73 72, Gerhard Pepler 72 73, Keenan Davidse 73 72, MJ Viljoen 73 72, Craig Ross 72 73
146 - Hayden Griffiths 77 69, Ulrich van den Berg 73 73, Ryan Van Velzen 75 71, Trevor Mahoney 73 73, Jacques Blaauw 72 74, Fredrik From 70 76, Keegan Mclachlan 73 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 73 73
147 - Allister de Kock 73 74, Sean Bradley 76 71, Werner Deyzel 72 75, Steven Le Roux 75 72, Franklin Manchest 72 75, Kyle McClatchie 73 74, Conner Mackenzie 75 72, Brandon Gildenhuys 75 72, Jaco Van Zyl 73 74
148 - Estiaan Conradie 72 76, Matthew Spacey 76 72, Merrick Bremner 79 69, Lwazi Gqira 75 73, Keelan van Wyk 71 77, Ronald Rugumayo 74 74, Lyle Pedro 73 75
149 - Irvin Mazibuko 75 74, Tristin Galant 75 74, Leon Vorster 77 72, Tumelo Molloyi 76 73, Gerard du Plooy 80 69, Travis Ladner 71 78, Keagan Thomas 72 77
150 - Jason Roets 73 77, Dayne Moore 75 75, Brandon Pieters 72 78, Njoroge Kibugu 72 78, Thabang Simon 77 73, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 73 77, Toto Thimba Jnr 74 76
151 - Gregory Mckay 76 75, David Amm 79 72, Martin Vorster 71 80
152 - Shaahid Mahmed 77 75, Bradford Vaughan 75 77, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 75 77, Gary Kemp 76 76, Sentanio Minnie 76 76, Vaughn van Deventer 80 72, Alex Haindl 74 78, Adam Breen 72 80
153 - Jared Harvey 75 78, Umar Davids 77 76, Jordan Duminy 78 75, Slenda Sithebe 74 79, Herman Loubser 78 75
154 - Keelan Africa 74 80, Mike Maile 75 79
155 - Shaydon Johnson 83 72
156 - Terence Boardman 74 82
157 - Jastice Mashego 83 74, Christopher Long 77 80
158 - Brandon-Jude Rennie 78 80, Jabulane Mabilane 79 79
160 - David Masole 80 80
162 - Kouassi Jean Romaric Djezou 85 77
163 - Richard Kruger 86 77
WDN - Stefan Wears-Taylor 74 WDN, Dylan O'Leary 81 RTD