It was not as inspired a round as his 62 on the opening day, but Thriston Lawrence was still delighted with his five-under-par 67 on Thursday in the second round of the SunBet Challenge Times Square Casino tournament at Wingate Park Country Club, giving him a three-shot lead going into the final day.
Lawrence is sitting pretty on 15-under-par, having finished strong on Thursday as he birdied the par-five 18th to come home in four-under.
The 27-year-old has pulled ahead of Jacques Blaauw, who followed his 62 with a two-under-par 70 in the second round.
Yurav Premlall joined Blaauw on 12-under-par with a brilliant 66.
“In the afternoon the course firms up a bit and putting gets difficult, I didn’t make as many putts today,” Lawrence said.
“But my front nine was not as good today to be honest; yesterday I was four-under through four holes, today I was level.
“So that slowed things down, but I stayed in it and was patient. I knew there were three par-fives to come on the back nine [he birdied them all], and I was very happy with five-under today. It was always going to be tough to follow a 10-under round and there were some testing flags out there, if you missed on the wrong side you were a bit screwed,” Lawrence said.
While Blaauw, co-leader after the first day, had a banal round in which his putter just could not gather him much momentum, collecting just four birdies, there were noteworthy performances from those lower down the leaderboard.
The 21-year-old Premlall went bogey-free on Thursday to give himself another chance at his maiden Sunshine Tour title after his runner-up finish earlier this month in the FNB Eswatini Challenge.
Neil Schietekat also did not drop a shot in his superb eight-under 64, lifting him into fourth place on 11-under-par, while Dylan Naidoo matched that faultless performance to move to 10-under.
Neil Schietekat and @DylanNaidoo card the lowest rounds of the day at Wingate Park Country Club. #SunBetChallenge #SunBetChallengeTimeSquare #GreatnessBeginsHere #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/0G8ZgFiDhd
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) August 22, 2024
Michael Hollick also had a fine day, his 66 propelling him to nine-under-par, alongside George Coetzee (71) and Werner Deyzel (68).
But Lawrence has won eight times in his professional career and he is not looking to do anything unusual to finish the job in the final round and claim a title in his first tournament since injuring his back while finishing fourth in the Open Championship last month.
“Sometimes it’s better to have less expectation, but I’m still here to try and win this tournament. Hopefully the wind doesn’t come up, but when the course is firm like this then I can be aggressive off the tee because I hit my driver pretty straight.
“Knowing you can win does help, but it’s a new round and everyone within say eight shots is still in it, someone could shoot 59. I’m just going to go out and try and enjoy it, stick to my game-plan,” Lawrence said.
SCORES:
129 - Thriston Lawrence 62 67
132 - Jacques Blaauw 62 70, Yurav Premlall 66 66
133 - Neil Schietekat 69 64
134 - Dylan Naidoo 70 64
135 - Michael Hollick 69 66, Werner Deyzel 67 68, George Coetzee 64 71
136 - Kyle De Beer 68 68
137 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 69, Luke Brown 70 67, Rourke van der Spuy 70 67
138 - Jacques P de Villiers 71 67, Graham van der Merwe 69 69, Ryan Van Velzen 68 70, Vaughn van Deventer 71 67
139 - James Mack 67 72, Joe Long 69 70, Darren Fichardt 70 69, Keegan Mclachlan 69 70, Ricky Hendler 71 68, Christiaan Burke 71 68, Doug McGuigan 70 69, Jean Hugo 71 68, Jonathan Broomhead 72 67, Wynand Dingle 70 69
140 - Franklin Manchest 68 72, Kyle Barker 71 69, Lyle Rowe 71 69, LB Boshoff 70 70, Quintin Wilsnach 66 74, Jake Redman 67 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 69 71, Rupert Kaminski 70 70
141 - Stals Swart 68 73, Dan Erickson 72 69, Kyle McClatchie 72 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 70, Danie Van Niekerk 69 72, Louis Albertse 72 69, Keagan Thomas 70 71, Ethan Smith 70 71, Samuel Simpson 71 70, Luke Jerling 77 64, MJ Viljoen 72 69, Ruan Conradie 70 71, Gregory Mckay 72 69
142 - Gerhard Pepler 70 72, Jaco Ahlers 68 74, Altin van der Merwe 72 70, Jabulane Mabilane 73 69, Jacob Oakley 72 70, Therion Nel 69 73, Hennie Otto 70 72, Heinrich Bruiners 71 71, Jason Roets 70 72
Missed the cut:
143 - Toto Thimba Jnr 75 68, Fredrik From 72 71, Andre De Decker 73 70, Christiaan Basson 73 70, Allister de Kock 72 71, Hayden Griffiths 75 68
144 - Gary Kemp 72 72, Conner Mackenzie 69 75, Jovan Rebula 73 71, Nikhil Rama 71 73, Keenan Davidse 74 70, Malcolm Mitchell 73 71, Daniel van Tonder 71 73, Jbe Kruger 72 72
145 - Craig Ross 71 74, Gerard du Plooy 74 71, Leon Vorster 74 71, Jacquin Hess 75 70, DK Kim 73 72, Estiaan Conradie 72 73, Dayne Moore 71 74
146 - Ruan Korb 74 72, Herman Loubser 72 74, Combrinck Smit 73 73, Brandon Gildenhuys 76 70, Keelan van Wyk 76 70, Sentanio Minnie 74 72, Brandon Pieters 75 71, Ruan de Smidt 75 71, Martin Rohwer 71 75, Matthew Spacey 69 77, Rhys West 75 71, Thanda Mavundla 77 69
147 - Njoroge Kibugu 72 75, Otto Van Buynder 72 75, Trevor Mahoney 74 73, Simon du Plooy 75 72, Travis Ladner 73 74, Jordan Duminy 70 77, Callum Mowat 77 70, Regan Steyn 74 73
148 - Brandon Meads 76 72, Stuart Krog 75 73, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 77
149 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 74, Tumelo Molloyi 76 73, Irvin Mazibuko 76 73, Thabiso Ngcobo 76 73
150 - Robson Chinhoi 77 73, Ruan Groenewald 74 76, Albert Venter 74 76, CJ du Plessis 75 75, Stephen Ferreira 74 76
151 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 78, Haydn Porteous 81 70, Mike Maile 75 76, Dylan O'Leary 77 74, Tristin Galant 79 72, Lyle Pedro 73 78, Jared Harvey 76 75
152 - Thabang Simon 79 73, Terence Boardman 78 74, Steven Le Roux 75 77, Pierre Pellegrin 74 78, Christian Kriek 78 74
153 - Adam Breen 76 77, Jaco Van Zyl 75 78, Nick Cunningham 75 78, Merrick Bremner 75 78
154 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 79 75
155 - Ronald Rugumayo 75 80, Andrew Williamson 77 78
157 - Umar Davids 76 81, Slenda Sithebe 76 81
164 - Jastice Mashego 79 85
WDN - James Hart du Preez 73 WDN