South Africa’s JJ Senekal is hunting back-to-back victories on the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour as he heads into the weekend of the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship just three strokes off the lead at Humewood Golf Club.
Senekal won last week’s SDC Open in wire-to-wire fashion and has carried that form to Humewood, with a second round of 67 on Friday lifting him to 11 under par and chasing the 14 under par lead held by Frenchman Tom Vaillant following his 64. Swede Adam Blommé also came through 36 holes on 11 under following a 70 on Friday.
“I’m just riding the momentum of last week,” said Senekal as he looks forward to another strong weekend of being in contention.
After his victory last week Senekal took up membership of the Challenge Tour, and seeing his name in third place on their Road to Mallorca rankings has certainly inspired him.
“That’s when the victory kind of really sunk in for me. Now it’s a case of putting my foot on the gas and seeing if I can win three of them this season and get to the DP World Tour, or end as high as I can to get that DP World Tour card,” he said.
Friday’s stiff breeze had a few Humewood locals nodding their heads in approval, but the scoring was still impressive and Frenchman Vaillant set the clubhouse target of 14 under with his 64 in the morning.
“I’m quite comfortable on a links course,” said Vaillant. “My style of play is to just hit my target and not be too aggressive, and that’s what you have to do on links golf courses. It was great. I hit almost all of my targets and it helped me to go low.”
Excellent round by ???? Tom Vaillant ??
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) February 24, 2023
?? Hitting all targets
?? Set a good score heading into the weekend
?? Swipe left to hear the thoughts of the clubhouse leader. #NMBChamps #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour
Senekal also felt the sharper focus Friday’s wind brought to his game.
“I played solid and made a couple of long putts. It was tougher out there with the wind but I kept my composure pretty well after I made a double bogey on the par-three sixth and then came back strong with an eagle and made my day worthwhile at the end. The wind protects this golf course and you need the wind for it to play to its true potential. Today was a good show of that.”
And it’s set him up for a tantalising weekend of possibly more success.
“Last week I was protecting a lead. This time I can go and chase it. On this golf course anything can happen quickly. Hopefully I can put another good round together and then have a shot on Sunday.” – Michael Vlismas
PHOTO: South Africa’s JJ Senekal is hunting back-to-back victories on the Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour as he heads into the weekend of the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship three shots off the lead at Humewood Golf Club. Credit: Tyrone Winfield. The attached image is free for editorial use only.
SECOND-ROUND SCORES
130 - Tom Vaillant 66 64
133 - Adam Blommé 63 70, JJ Senekal 66 67
135 - Henric Sturehed 65 70, Steven Brown 69 66
136 - Stuart Manley 70 66, Dylan Mostert 68 68, Pieter Moolman 64 72, Jaco Prinsloo 66 70, Anton Karlsson 67 69, Craig Howie 65 71
137 - Jaco Ahlers 68 69, Alex Haindl 70 67, Ruan Conradie 68 69, Sam Bairstow 66 71, Brandon Stone 67 70, Martin Vorster 69 68, Lorenzo Scalise 66 71, Javier Sainz 66 71, Jamie Rutherford 68 69, Robin Williams 67 70, Ryan Van Velzen 67 70
138 - Luca Filippi 66 72, Wynand Dingle 69 69, Marc Hammer 69 69, Andrea Pavan 71 67, Jbe Kruger 67 71, Manuel Elvira 66 72, OJ Farrell 69 69, Jared Harvey 70 68, Ashley Chesters 68 70, Jean Hugo 67 71, Dan Erickson 68 70, Liam Johnston 67 71, Alfie Plant 67 71, Borja Virto 68 70, Gary Boyd 70 68
139 - Josh Hilleard 68 71, Daniel O'Loughlin 68 71, Joel Sjoholm 70 69, Rhys Enoch 69 70, Joel Girrbach 69 70, Robin Petersson 71 68, Benjamin Rusch 66 73, Clement Berardo 73 66, Adilson Da Silva 68 71, Keagan Thomas 72 67, Fredrik From 69 70, Hennie O'Kennedy 69 70, Bradley Bawden 70 69, Lyle Rowe 68 71, Yan Wei Liu 67 72, Casey Jarvis 66 73, Ugo Coussaud 65 74, Victor Riu 69 70
140 - Hennie Otto 70 70, Jaco Van Zyl 72 68, Christopher Mivis 68 72, David Boote 71 69, Michael Stewart 70 70, Stefan Wears-Taylor 67 73, Jeppe Kristian Andersen 72 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 66 74, James Hart du Preez 66 74, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez 69 71, Anthony Michael 65 75, Chris Paisley 69 71, Lucas Vacarisas 68 72, Ruaidhri McGee 66 74, Doug McGuigan 67 73
Missed the cut
141 - Mikael Lundberg 68 73, Oscar Lengden 71 70, Elias Bertheussen 68 73, Michael Hirmer 70 71, Eduard Rousaud 68 73, Luke Brown 68 73, Tom Murray 67 74, Tristen Strydom 71 70, Dylan Naidoo 69 72, Jacques Blaauw 69 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 67 74, Michael Palmer 70 71, Kyle Barker 68 73, James Allan 68 73, Nikhil Rama 69 72
142 - Zander Lombard 71 71, Gerard du Plooy 67 75, Oliver Lindell 72 70, Gregorio De Leo 69 73, Antoine Pouguet 73 69, Lars van Meijel 70 72, Paul Dunne 70 72, Luke Jerling 71 71, Combrinck Smit 68 74, Malcolm Mitchell 67 75
143 - Erhard Lambrechts 69 74, Heinrich Bruiners 71 72, Keenan Davidse 73 70, Victor Garcia Broto 72 71, Louis Albertse 71 72, Velten Meyer 69 74, Joe Long 69 74, Siyanda Mwandla 72 71, Rupert Kaminski 70 73, Niklas Regner 67 76, Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon 68 75, James Kamte 68 75, Neil Schietekat 72 71
144 - Jannik de Bruyn 68 76, Wilco Nienaber 70 74, Jack Singh Brar 65 79, Stephen Ferreira 70 74, Paul Boshoff 72 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 75, Conor Purcell 67 77, Emilio Cuartero Blanco 72 72, Kyle McClatchie 67 77, Matthew Spacey 72 72
145 - Jacquin Hess 73 72, Julien Sale 71 74, Frederik Birkelund 69 76, Pierre Pineau 76 69, Toby Tree 71 74, Joachim B. Hansen 74 71, Jean Bekirian 72 73, Philip Eriksson 71 74
146 - Madalitso Muthiya 72 74, Haydn Porteous 73 73, Marco Penge 72 74, Callan Barrow 72 74, Ruan Korb 69 77, Yurav Premlall 69 77, Christopher Feldborg 70 76, Danie Van Niekerk 70 76, Steven Tiley 71 75
147 - Steven Le Roux 72 75, Jacques P de Villiers 75 72, Christiaan Burke 70 77, Keith Horne 72 75, Aneurin Gounden 73 74
148 - Tristin Galant 75 73, Jonathan Thomson 74 74
149 - Rhys West 71 78, Adam Breen 72 77
150 - Richard Joubert 70 80
151 - Estiaan Conradie 73 78
152 - Victor Pastor 71 81, Clayton Mansfield 73 79, Pavan Sagoo 74 78
153 - Sebastian Friedrichsen 75 78
154 - Felix Mory 73 81, Sean Bradley 76 78, Ruan de Smidt 75 79
155 - Tumelo Molloyi 74 81
158 - Karabo Mokoena 76 82, Herman Loubser 76 82