Scintillating back nine helps Nel to share second-round lead in Benoni

Bloemfontein Golf Club’s Therion Nel shot a beautiful eight-under-par 64 on Wednesday – the lowest score of the second round of the Altron Big Easy Tour event at Benoni Country Club – to co-lead with Vaughn van Deventer on 10-under-par ahead of the final round.

Making his point very early in the round, Nel was two-under through the first four holes as he sought to climb up the leaderboard on moving day. His joy, however, was cut short after he made a double-bogey on the par-four seventh. That would be his only costly mistake of the day. He steadied himself, regained his composure and went about his business once more; birdieing the ninth to turn in 35.

After the turn, Nel let loose. An eagle on the par-four 11th was soon followed by birdies from 13 through 16 as Nel asserted his intentions. He birdied the last for good measure as he sealed a faultless 29 on that nine.

“It was an interesting back nine, I can tell you that,” said an obviously satisfied Nel. “I felt really good on the course today; I hit the ball well but the difference was the putts. I think I hit 11 putts on the back nine and I think that was the difference. My driving off the tee has been great this week but I feel like today I capitalised well on that.

“I was struggling with the putts in the last couple of tournaments but I gave myself a lot of chance today and I made those putts. So, I am very happy with my performance around the greens. I feel like this course requires you to think a bit but I also think it’s easier out of the fairway, so I capitalised on that today.”

Nel was in the afternoon field and would have caught wind of Van Deventer’s scintillating 65 because the latter was in the very first three-ball to go earlier in the morning. Backing up his opening-round 69, the State Mines Country Club player, Van Deventer, produced an eventful round to take the clubhouse lead. His 65 consisted of nine birdies and two drops.

“It was a nice and easy type of a morning,” Van Deventer said with a smile. “I made a few long putts as I navigated my way. I hit my driver very well and kept it on the fairways and the two holes where I’d pulled it, I came out of the long grass and made two long putts for birdies. Those were my two highlights of this round.

“My goal today was to try and get my overall score to double digits. The scores were not really low yesterday and I knew that if I got it right, I’d be somewhere around the top five on the leaderboard. That would give me a chance at winning because currently, I’m kind of borderline between keeping my card or losing it. But, I came here to win, you know, and it feels good to be in contention.”

Also making the most of moving day was Warwick Purchase whose five-under 67 helped him to solo third on eight-under for the week. His, too, was a magnificent round of golf and consisted of a pair of eagles, three birdies and two drops.

Two shots further lie the duo of Jastice Mashego and Kyle De Beer. Both players weaved together rounds of 69 to get to six under and four shots off Nel’s pace.

Scores:

134 - Vaughn van Deventer 69 65, Therion Nel 70 64

136 - Warwick Purchase 69 67

138 - Jastice Mashego 69 69, Kyle De Beer 69 69

139 - Paul Boshoff 68 71, Werner Deyzel 71 68, Allister de Kock 69 70, Eric Wowor 70 69, LB Boshoff 69 70

140 - Andre De Decker 67 73, Conner Mackenzie 71 69

141 - Samuel Simpson 71 70, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 70, Steven Le Roux 74 67, Gerard du Plooy 72 69, Pierre Pellegrin 70 71, Gerhard Trytsman 71 70, Regan Steyn 71 70

142 - Ethan Smith 73 69, Graham van der Merwe 70 72, Wade Jacobs 70 72, Keelan van Wyk 70 72, Slade Pickering 73 69, Leon Vorster 67 75

143 - Dayne Moore 71 72, Ricky Hendler 72 71, Makhetha Mazibuko 71 72, Tyron Davidowitz 75 68, Travis Ladner 72 71, Coert Groenewald 72 71, Christopher Long 74 69

Missed the cut:-

144 - Marcel Steyn Scholtz 72 72, Lyle Pedro 72 72, Jordan Duminy 74 70, Reece Mc Kain 71 73, Brandon-Jude Rennie 71 73, Caylum Boon 77 67, Brandon Pieters 73 71, Philip Geerts 71 73, Toto Thimba Jnr 71 73, Andrew McLardy 72 72, Karabo Mokoena 69 75, Leon Visser 73 71, Nicholaus Frade 72 72

145 - Matthew Rushton 71 74, Ruan Groenewald 70 75, Xander Basson 72 73, Noel Anderson 72 73, Heinrich Bruiners 72 73, Andre Van Dyk 71 74, Stals Swart 72 73, Thanda Mavundla 72 73

146 - Brandon Gildenhuys 77 69, Ryan Tipping 75 71, Harry Konig 73 73, Thabiso Ngcobo 70 76, Christian Kriek 74 72

147 - Willie Olivier 72 75, Keelan Africa 79 68, DK Kim 74 73, Jabulane Mabilane 72 75, Keegan Mclachlan 74 73, Luan Steenkamp 74 73

148 - Adriel Poonan 72 76, Jacquin Hess 75 73, Dylan O'Leary 72 76, Thabang Simon 72 76

149 - Carlos Laranja 75 74, Ruan de Smidt 75 74, CJ Levey 76 73, Umar Davids 74 75, Reinhardt Blaauw 74 75, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 76 73

150 - Aneurin Gounden 77 73, Jonathan Waschefort 76 74, Andrew Williamson 73 77, Tumelo Molloyi 74 76, Lindani Ndwandwe 73 77

151 - Henning du Plooy 71 80, Shalan Govender 74 77, Rigardt Albertse 76 75, Morne Buys 78 73, TJ Sandys 79 72

152 - Francois Van der Walt 81 71, Teboho Sefatsa 79 73, James Kamte 77 75, Chase Paton 75 77, Marthin Scheepers 75 77

154 - Carlo Heunis 76 78, Johan Theron 77 77, Lwazi Gqira 76 78

155 - Ricco Motsa 79 76

156 - Siphiwe Siphayi 83 73, Gerard Moodley 73 83, Alphius Kelapile 77 79

157 - Sabelo Xolani Majola 75 82, Jason Froneman 74 83, Sentanio Minnie 83 74, Omar Sandys 77 80, James Pennington 79 78

158 - Elliot Bradley 80 78

161 - Sandy Makume 80 81

163 - Adam Bassingthwaighte 81 82

165 - Brandon Moodley 85 80

167 - Darren Slingers 82 85

WDN - Shaheed Patel 85 WDN, Bradford Vaughan RTD RTD, Mark Maart DSQ DSQ