Gerhard Pepler will be relishing the prospect of making it two wins in as many tournaments after his second-round 68 in the Altron Big Easy Tour event held at ERPM Golf Club catapulted him to the summit of the leaderboard – at nine-under-par – and two shots clear on Wednesday.
Pepler finally got his win last month at Soweto Country Club and he was still beaming with confidence coming into this seventh tournament of the campaign. His opening round of 67 left him a single stroke of overnight leaders, Ricky Hendler and Christiaan Burke on Tuesday. On day two, Pepler turned things up while Burke struggled and Hendler was not at his devastating best.
“There’s a lot of confidence coming from Soweto, even with after the month’s break,” admitted Pepler. “This course doesn’t usually suit my eye but it seems to be kinder to me this week. For me, the key has been to try and keep the big numbers off the scorecard and to minimise damage. If I find myself in trouble, I tried to scramble and fight to save par. I think I played well the first two days.”
Pepler started on 10 in the second round, making back-to-back birdies in the first two before an eagle on the par-five 13th decorated his card for a blemish-free 32 on the back nine – his front. A similarly spectacular start on the homeward nine saw Pepler making further gains; birdieing the first, second and fourth to get his tournament total to 12-under-par.
Then, an unwanted bogey on the fifth hole (his 14th) took from his gains before further woes befell Pepler as he made a double on the last which left his total at nine-under for the week.
“I was in the middle of the fairway but I just hit a really bad shot,” said Pepler of his double-bogey. “But I am not stressing about it because tomorrow will be a new day and there’s still golf to be played. I played well today and I hope to do it again in the final round.”
Hendler, Ruan de Smidt, DK Kim and amateur Jonothan Broomhead tie the second spot at seven-under will feel a two-shot deficit can be overturned. Broomhead was particularly impressive as his 66 proved to be the lowest round of the day.
The Big Easy Tour was founded in 2011 with support from Ernie Els and counts current international star Christiaan Bezuidenhout among its former Order of Merit winners.
SCORES:
135 - Gerhard Pepler 67 68
137 - Ruan de Smidt 69 68, Ricky Hendler 66 71, Jonothan Broomhead 71 66, DK Kim 69 68
138 - Coert Groenewald 69 69
139 - Philip Geerts 69 70
140 - Thabang Simon 73 67, Christiaan Burke 66 74, Henning du Plooy 72 68
141 - Adam Breen 73 68, Slade Pickering 70 71
142 - Joshua Seale 71 71, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 71
143 - Allister de Kock 69 74, Vaughn van Deventer 71 72, Reinhardt Blaauw 72 71
144 - Slenda Sithebe 69 75, Keegan Mclachlan 69 75, Carlo Heunis 73 71
145 - Stuart Krog 73 72, Aneurin Gounden 74 71, Ryan Tipping 69 76, Gideon Pienaar 71 74, Casey Jarvis 69 76
146 - Jonathan Waschefort 76 70, Gregory Mckay 74 72, Carlos Laranja 71 75
147 - Irvin Mazibuko 70 77, Nicholaus Frade 73 74, Thanda Mavundla 71 76
MISSED THE CUT:
148 - Franklin Manchest 75 73, Pierre Pellegrin 73 75, Jason Froneman 73 75, Ethan Smith 72 76, LB Boshoff 76 72
149 - Adriel Poonan 75 74, Steven Le Roux 76 73, Reece Mc Kain 76 73, Cameron Moralee 76 73, Mutahi Kibugu 74 75, John Bele 75 74, Mike Maile 77 72, Tumelo Molloyi 75 74, Keaton Slatter 76 73, Matthew Rushton 73 76, Sipho Bujela 78 71, SP Mthethwa 75 74
150 - Matt Saulez 74 76, Tristin Galant 72 78
151 - Leon Visser 78 73, Lindani Ndwandwe 74 77, Keanu Pestana 73 78, Shalan Govender 74 77, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 77 74, Keelan Africa 74 77, Bradley Diggeden 74 77, Jason Roets 78 73
152 - Shane Feldman 75 77, Fezekile Kana 74 78, Regan Steyn 76 76, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 73 79, Jordan Duminy 74 78
153 - Jastice Mashego 78 75, Jean Van Niekerk 74 79, Omar Sandys 76 77, Evance Vukeya 75 78, Willie Olivier 73 80, Alphius Kelapile 75 78, Ethan Joseph 74 79, Thabiso Ngcobo 75 78
154 - Robson Saurombe 76 78, Francois van Staden 76 78, Kevin Rhoderick 78 76, Mark Maart 82 72, Noel Anderson 71 83
155 - Kyle Lucas 78 77, Lwazi Gqira 79 76, Marthin Scheepers 73 82
156 - Lincon Denzy Cele 76 80, Mark Williams 74 82
157 - Thabo Moraba 80 77
158 - Richard Kruger 74 84, Darren Slingers 77 81
159 - Zabastian de Jager 76 83
160 - Brandon Moodley 83 77, Phumlani Maluka 77 83
161 - Sentanio Minnie 76 85, Sandy Makume 82 79, Lindani Mthiyane 77 84, Boeta Nasie 77 84
166 - Byron van der Merwe 86 80
168 - Ricco Motsa 89 79
172 - Gerard Moodley 83 89
178 - Llewellyn Leibrandt 89 89
RTD - Luke Trocado 77 RTD
MISSED THE CUT:
DSQ - Teboho Sefatsa DSQ