South Africa’s Luke Jerling put in a hard session on the range on the eve of this week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am at Fancourt and it has paid off as he heads into the weekend tied for the lead in this Sunshine Tour and European Challenge Tour co-sanctioned tournament.
Jerling signed for a 68 on The Links on Friday to move to the top of the leaderboard on 12 under par overall.
Over on the Montagu golf course, Sweden’s Adam Blomme carded a 67 to also end the day on 12 under.
They are two strokes clear of South Africans Oliver Bekker and Adam Breen.
Bekker carded a 68 on the Montagu while Breen added a 68 on The Links.
The tournament rotates between Fancourt’s three golf courses of The Links, Montagu and Outeniqua.
After missing the cut in last week’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open, Jerling did some soul-searching on the range at Fancourt on Wednesday and said something in his game clicked right there.
“I was on the range until late trying to figure out what went wrong the previous week. I had a chat with my coach as well, and I went into Thursday’s first round feeling good and I’m just riding the wave. It’s great to be at the top of the leaderboard,” he said.
Even the two bogeys he made early on the back nine didn’t trouble him as he responded with five birdies on that nine – three of them in his last four holes.
“I hit it well off the tee and my iron play was good. I’ve found something in my putting this week, so with good iron play I’ve been giving myself chances and not putting myself under any pressure. The two bogeys I made on the back nine were just because I took a few gambles off the tee and hit it into fairway bunkers. But I bounced back nicely and recovered with birdies thereafter to keep the momentum going.”
Jerling knows better than anybody that a good day on The Links is not to be taken lightly.
“I’m very pleased. The weather was great but The Links is always still a tough test. The greens were running fast and it’s always a tricky course. I’ve seen the good and the bad of The Links and you can never be disappointed with a 68 on this course.”
Over on the Montagu course, Swede Blomme was equally pleased with his performance considering he hasn’t played too much competitive golf while recovering from injury.
“I’ve been really good off the tee this week and that’s been the difference for me. It’s been nice not to have to chip out all the time and actually have the ball in play. There were also a lot of opportunities if you just went for the middle of the green because the pins were tucked away. But this place is unbelievable. I love the golf courses here. I’m in a good space,” he said.
SECOND-ROUND SCORES
133 - Luke Jerling 65 68, Adam Blomme 66 67
135 - Adam Breen 67 68, Oliver Bekker 67 68
135 - Manuel Elvira 69 66, Conor Purcell 70 66, Kyle Barker 69 66
137 - Hennie O'Kennedy 72 65, Javier Sainz 69 68, James Kamte 69 67, Brandon Stone 69 68
137 - Tom Murray 71 66, Joel Girrbach 73 65, Oliver Farr 68 69, Wilco Nienaber 70 68, Ryan Van Velzen 70 67
138 - Alvaro Quiros 67 71, Jacques Blaauw 68 71, Hennie Otto 69 70, Louis Albertse 70 69, Craig Howie 69 70, Garrick Porteous 72 66
139 - Shaun Norris 71 68, JJ Senekal 67 73, Casey Jarvis 64 76, Jean Hugo 66 74, Ruaidhri McGee 66 73, Emilio Cuartero Blanco 71 68, Callum Mowat 68 71, Henric Sturehed 70 69, James Hart du Preez 74 66
141 - Ugo Coussaud 72 69, Renato Paratore 72 68, Pieter Moolman 73 67, JC Ritchie 69 71, Borja Virto 73 68, Clement Berardo 71 70, Clancy Waugh 66 75, Joel Sjoholm 73 68, Mateusz Gradecki 70 70, Alejandro Canizares 68 73, Fredrik From 70 70, Lorenzo Scalise 68 73, Dylan Naidoo 68 73, Rhys Enoch 70 71
142 - Rourke van der Spuy 76 66, Nicolai Kristensen 74 68, Benjamin Rusch 71 71, Gerard du Plooy 68 74, Andrea Pavan 68 74, Frederic Lacroix 70 72, Martin Rohwer 71 70, Yan Wei Liu 72 70, Christiaan Burke 71 70, Felix Mory 70 71, Keenan Davidse 74 68, Chris Paisley 71 70
142 - Luke Brown 74 68, Niklas Regner 72 71, Darren Fichardt 73 69, Victor Rufian 72 71, Jaco Van Zyl 70 72, Ricardo Gouveia 73 69, Steven Tiley 71 72, Malcolm Mitchell 72 71, Anton Karlsson 70 73, Yurav Premlall 72 71, Jacques Kruyswijk 67 76, Lyle Rowe 69 74, Steven Brown 68 75, Toby Tree 71 71, Nikhil Rama 73 70, Stuart Manley 68 74, Merrick Bremner 67 76, Euan Walker 71 72, Thomas Aiken 69 74
143 - Jaco Prinsloo 76 67, Michael Palmer 71 73, Tristen Strydom 74 69, Heinrich Bruiners 71 73, Martin Vorster 69 75, Rupert Kaminski 70 74, Alfie Plant 69 75, Anthony Michael 71 73, Derek Ackerman 69 74, Estiaan Conradie 76 68, Liam Johnston 73 70
145 - Pierre Pineau 68 77, Lars van Meijel 70 75, Sean Bradley 71 73, Combrinck Smit 73 72, Stephen Ferreira 73 72, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez 72 73, Dan Erickson 73 72, Sam Bairstow 70 75, Dylan Mostert 74 71
146 - Divan van den Heever 70 76, Elias Bertheussen 73 73, Francesco Laporta 73 72, Lucas Bjerregaard 81 64, Franklin Manchest 74 72, Oliver Lindell 71 75, Keith Horne 70 75, Marc Hammer 72 74, Christopher Mivis 72 73, Wynand Dingle 75 70, Matteo Manassero 71 74
147 - David Boote 75 72, Pavan Sagoo 71 76, Jamie Rutherford 75 72, Keagan Thomas 72 75, Callan Barrow 72 75, OJ Farrell 75 72, Philip Eriksson 75 71, Jeppe Kristian Andersen 75 71, Joachim B. Hansen 73 73
148 - Oscar Lengden 76 72, Benjamin Follett-Smith 71 77, Lindani Ndwandwe 76 71, Robert Foley 76 71, Max Schmitt 72 75, Jonathan Thomson 71 77, Adriel Poonan 74 73, Lucas Vacarisas 73 74
149 - Ruan Korb 75 74, Alex Haindl 77 72, Lorenzo Gagli 76 73, Christopher Feldborg Nielsen 71 78, Gregorio De Leo 76 73, Siyanda Mwandla 75 74, Luca Filippi 69 79, Alan McLean 73 76
150 - Benjamin Poke 73 77, Daniel O'Loughlin 73 77, Toto Thimba Jnr 76 74, Marco Penge 73 77, Mikael Lundberg 72 78
151 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 78, Velten Meyer 75 76, Jovan Rebula 73 78, Robin Petersson 77 73, Ashley Chesters 75 76
151 - Chris Wood 78 73, Ruan Conradie 76 75, Jean-Paul Strydom 73 79, Koen Kouwenaar 77 75
153 - Jacquin Hess 76 77, CJ du Plessis 76 77
154 - Herman Loubser 74 80, Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 77, Sean Cronje 80 74, Aneurin Gounden 81 73, Gary Boyd 78 75
155 - Kyle McClatchie 78 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 74 81
156 - Kristoffer Reitan 81 75