Royal Cape Golf Club’s Samuel Simpson shrugged of a triple-bogey on his second hole to shoot three-under 69 on day two of the Altron Big Easy Tour event to take his tournament total to nine-under while keeping his place atop the leaderboard at Kyalami Country Club.
Starting on the 10th, Simpson made par on his first hole but found himself in trouble when he made a triple-bogey seven on the par-four 11th.
He found a bit of happiness on the par-five when he birdied that hole but those gains would soon be taken from him, no thanks to a drop on the 14th.
Again, the 21-year-old Simpson proved himself a steady performer and sank another birdie on 15.
He backed that up with a brace of birdies on 17 and 18 to turn in 33.
“I just had a poor tee shot on my second hole; I just pulled it to the left and played per centage and chipped out. Then knocked it long left off the green and I was short-sighted and ended up making seven,” Simpson said, detailing the factors that led to that triple-bogey.
“It was not the best of starts but I just reminded myself that I have been playing well and I have been consistent. I knew that if I birdied the par-fives coming (I still had four par-fives to play) and I birdied those. Then I just tried to keep the mistakes off the scorecard. So, three-under after a good round yesterday, I’ll take it. I learnt my lesson on 11 and hopefully, I can take those into tomorrow’s round.”
Simpson made three birdies on the homeward stretch to seal a round of 69.
He co-leads with Coert Groenewald, who shared the overnight lead with Simpson and Ruan de Smidt.
Groenewald also backed up his opening 66 with a 69 of his own to also get his total to nine-under.
They hold a slim one-shot lead over Makhetha Mazibuko.
The member of the Papwa Sewgolum Class carded his second successive 68 to total eight-under-par as he chases his first win on this circuit.
De Smidt slipped to a share of fourth on seven-under after he shot 71 in round two.
He shares that spot with Gerard du Plooy whose 68 on Tuesday left him just two shots off the pace.
Tying the sixth spot on the leaderboard and on six-under for the week is the duo of Marcel Steyn Scholtz and Phillip Geerts.
Dayne Moore, Franklin Manchest and Leon Vorster make up the top 10 leading players on five-under ahead of the final round in Kyalami.
SCORES:
135 - Samuel Simpson 66 69, Coert Groenewald 66 69
136 - Makhetha Mazibuko 68 68
137 - Gerard du Plooy 69 68, Ruan de Smidt 66 71
138 - Marcel Steyn Scholtz 69 69, Philip Geerts 70 68
139 - Dayne Moore 70 69, Leon Vorster 69 70, Franklin Manchest 68 71
140 - Matthew Rushton 68 72, Rigardt Albertse 72 68, DK Kim 68 72, Christian Kriek 72 68, Amilkar Bhana 71 69
141 - Therion Nel 74 67, Ryan Tipping 67 74, Francois Van der Walt 70 71, Kayle Wykes 72 69, Christopher Long 74 67, Andrew Williamson 69 72, Andre De Decker 70 71, Ricky Hendler 68 73
142 - Leon Visser 73 69, Jack Buchanan 71 71, Andrew McLardy 69 73, Gregory Mckay 71 71, Jason Froneman 71 71, Thabang Simon 69 73
143 - Allister de Kock 70 73, Thabiso Ngcobo 70 73, James Pennington 73 70, Dylan O'Leary 74 69, Andre Van Dyk 71 72, Harry Konig 73 70
MISSED THE CUT:
144 - Alphius Kelapile 71 73, Adriel Poonan 73 71, Keanu Pestana 72 72, Jason Roets 72 72, Ronald Rugumayo 71 73, Elliot Bradley 72 72, Carlo Heunis 72 72, LB Boshoff 73 71, Henning du Plooy 74 70
145 - Callum Mowat 74 71, Xander Basson 72 73, Jonathan Waschefort 74 71, Werner Deyzel 73 72, Caden Sanders 73 72
146 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 71, Reece Mc Kain 71 75, Slade Pickering 69 77, Ruan Groenewald 74 72, Jordan Duminy 73 73, Zabastian de Jager 69 77, Carlos Laranja 72 74, Paul Boshoff 72 74, Greg Bentley 70 76, Brandon Gildenhuys 70 76
147 - Luan Steenkamp 74 73, Irvin Mazibuko 73 74, Stals Swart 72 75, Lwazi Gqira 75 72
148 - Willie Olivier 74 74, Fezekile Kana 76 72, Mutahi Kibugu 72 76, Tristin Galant 75 73, Travis Ladner 72 76, Cameron Moralee 78 70, Nicholaus Frade 71 77
149 - Vaughn van Deventer 75 74, Steven Le Roux 73 76, Sentanio Minnie 72 77, Tumelo Molloyi 76 73
150 - Caylum Boon 74 76, Janko van der Merwe 73 77, Mark Maart 79 71, Burt Gildenhuys 75 75
151 - Warwick Purchase 76 75, Ricco Motsa 76 75, Sabelo Xolani Majola 76 75, Otto Van Buynder 78 73, Lyle Pedro 71 80, Noel Anderson 73 78
152 - Shaheed Patel 75 77, Evance Vukeya 77 75, Johan Theron 77 75
153 - Slenda Sithebe 75 78, Songz Sonamzi 77 76, Sipho Bujela 74 79, Mike Saxer 77 76, Keelan Africa 75 78, Jabulane Mabilane 73 80
156 - Darren Gerrard 76 80
158 - TJ Sandys 81 77, Siphiwe Siphayi 73 85
161 - Brandon Moodley 81 80
164 - Boeta Nasie 82 82
165 - Gerard Moodley 84 81
WDN - Umar Davids 78 WDN, Conner Mackenzie 71 WDN, Brandon-Jude Rennie 82 WDN
RTD - Luke Trocado RTD RTD
DSQ - Darren Slingers DSQ DSQ