The leading teams of Jovan Rebula and Martin Vorster, and Jean Hugo and Ruan Korb, are preparing themselves for a better ball shootout in Sunday’s final round of the Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship at the Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate.
Having come through Saturday’s foursomes tied for the lead on 12 under par and one clear at the top of a very tight leaderboard, both teams know full well that it’s all to play for in Sunday’s better ball.
“Anything can happen there and I think the scoring will be low because the guys will have figured out the course by now. It’s all guns blazing for the final round. I’m looking forward to it,” said the experienced Hugo, who combined with Korb for a solid 67 in tricky conditions on Saturday.
“We saw the format before the tournament and knew the better ball was going to be the final round, so it’s all up for grabs for anyone. Anyone can have an outstanding day there and win,” added Rebula, who together with Vorster showed immense composure to shoot a 70 in the windy conditions.
The two teams are one clear of Jaco van Zyl and Gregory McKay who signed for a 66. Van Zyl added a hole-in-one on the par-three 13th that not only elevated his team, but also earned him 50 000 Airlink Skybucks courtesy of the Airlink Aces reward on the Tour this season.
Michael Hollick and Jaco Ahlers could also still easily have a say in the final round, which they’ll go into just two off the lead.
With that kind of challenge awaiting, Hugo and Korb will be out to make a faster start on the front nine than they’ve done all week.
“Somehow we don’t start well on the front and we’ll work on that for the final round. But we like the back nine. Having said that the conditions were tough over the last few holes,” said Hugo.
“For some reason the back nine seems to suit us better than the front. But I’m looking forward to having Jean’s experience with me in the final round,” added Korb.
As the young guns at the top of the leaderboard, both Rebula and Vorster have shown some pretty cool heads over the last three rounds.
“Patience was a virtue out there again today. We got off to a good start but mid-round it got a bit tough and we had to just take a step back a bit and keep the ball in play. But we’ve got our gameplan and are enjoying it out here,” said Rebula.
“I think we did a great job to stick to our gameplan. We were a little bit more conservative. Our goal today was just to keep ourselves on top of the leaderboard. We can’t control what the others do in the final round but will just stick to our gameplan,” added Vorster.
SCORES:
201 - J Hugo & R Korb 65 69 67, J. Rebula & M Vorster 63 68 70
202 - J Van Zyl & G. Mckay 67 69 66
203 - M Hollick & J Ahlers 66 67 70
204 - S Ferreira & S Krog 67 71 66, E. Smith & B. Meads 67 69 68, R Van Velzen & Y Premlall 63 70 71, D van Tonder & M Mitchell 67 64 73
205 - N. Schietekat & R. Kaminski 67 71 67, P Moolman & R Conradie 67 70 68, S Wears-Taylor & T Fisher Jnr 66 70 69, A. van der Merwe & C. Kriek 64 69 72
206 - H Bruiners & K Davidse 63 74 69
207 - O. Van Buynder & S. Swart 65 73 69, R van der Spuy & JP Strydom 66 70 71, J de Villiers & R West 65 69 73
208 - Q Wilsnach & F Manchest 66 73 69, C. Mackenzie & J. Mack 67 70 71, S Minnie & K. Van Wyk 66 69 73
209 - J. Broomhead & K Barker 68 71 70, G. Pepler & CJ du Plessis 67 70 72
210 - L Brown & F. From 63 73 74
211 - H. O'Kennedy & L. Boshoff 65 67 79
213 - N. Rama & D Moore 66 73 74
214 - J. Long & K McClatchie 68 71 75, K. De Beer & W. Deyzel 68 69 77
Missed the cut:-
140 - T Thimba Jnr & J du Preez 70 70, C Smit & W Dingle 68 72, K. Mclachlan & T. Ladner 67 73
141 - L Rowe & J Redman 66 75, A Venter & R. Groenewald 65 76, D Mostert & D Naidoo 64 77
142 - R de Smidt & V Van Deventer 69 73, G van der Merwe & H Porteous 67 75, M Spacey & L Jerling 68 74
143 - D. Van Niekerk & S Bradley 68 75
144 - M Rohwer & M Bremner 68 76, J. Hawksby & N. Cunningham 69 75, S Sithebe & T Molloyi 70 74, T. Galant & P. Pellegrin 68 76, S. Simpson & K Thomas 69 75
145 - H Otto & D McGuigan 67 78, J Roets & R. Hendler 70 75, MJ Viljoen & J Blaauw 73 72
146 - T Nel & H. Griffiths 67 79
147 - T Mavundla & M Mazibuko 69 78
148 - C. Burke & B Gildenhuys 70 78, H Loubser & C Mowat 68 80