If foursomes golf is all about trusting your partner, then competing with your brother-in-law as Daniel van Tonder and Malcolm Mitchell did, or your close friend as Jovan Rebula and Martin Vorster did, explains why these two teams share the lead on 11 under par heading into the weekend of the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship at Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate.
With the team format shifting to foursomes on Friday, Van Tonder and Mitchell combined well for a 64 while Rebula and Vorster were solid on their way to a 68.
It was a good performance by both teams on a day of wind and hard greens, and with the Silver Lakes course armed with as much water as the name suggests.
They are one clear of the team of Hennie O’Kennedy and LB Boshoff, who combined for a 67. Ryan van Velzen, who is defending his title but with a new partner this season in Yurav Premlall, can look forward to teeing off in Saturday’s third round just two shots off the lead.
The third round will also be foursomes, followed by a final round of better ball on Sunday.
Van Tonder and Mitchell certainly proved that as brothers-in-law they know about more than just each other’s family holiday plans as they navigated a tricky Silver Lakes in superb fashion on Friday.
“I’ve trusted a couple of people in my life, but there are certainly people you trust more than others and Daniel would be one of them. He’s always in good form with his game, and we also know each other’s games so well,” said Mitchell.
“We gave each other some good chances out there, which helped. I draw the ball and he fades it, so we were making some hearts out there. The main goal is to have fun and not get too upset out there,” added Van Tonder.
Alongside them at the top of the leaderboard, Vorster and Rebula also had a good understanding between them.
“I didn’t have to really deal with a bunch of challenges because Martin just hits tee shots straight down the middle of the fairway,” said Rebula.
“But I suppose it is different in that you’re playing for somebody else rather than just yourself. You put a little bit more emphasis on certain shots because you want to put your partner in the best position possible. But we worked out a good game plan today. You have to keep it in play on this course, and then you’ve got a lot of water around the greens here, which in this wind makes it interesting. But we just had a good game plan and will carry on with that in the third round.
“It’s more pressure than usual but Jovan is probably the most chilled guy on a golf course, so I really enjoyed it,” added Vorster.