Neil Schietekat’s “holiday swing”, as he called it, yielded a sublime 64 and earned him a one-stroke lead headed into the weekend of the Mediclinic Invitational at Maccauvlei Golf Club.
The five-time Sunshine Tour winner made two eagles on his front nine as he climbed to 10 under par for the tournament on Friday.
His nearest challengers are Jovan Rebula, Oliver Bekker, Sean Bradley, Ryan van Velzen and Willie Olivier.
Olivier, who shared the first round lead with Bekker, teed off on the 10th and led the field on 11 under with six holes of his second round still to play. But he played those with a double bogey, bogey and just one birdie on his card.
The trio of Bekker, Van Velzen and Rebula remained consistent in terms of their title chase on day two.
Bekker signed for a 70 while Van Velzen and Rebula both carded rounds of 69, and Bradley climbed the leaderboard with a 68.
But it was Schietekat who made the biggest move following his round of two under par on Thursday.
“It feels like I’m far from my best still. I’ve still got the holiday swing,” said Schietekat. But there appeared very little rust in his game on Friday.
🗣️ Neil Schietekat post round thoughts.#MediclinicInvitational | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/sxZuBakcMG
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) January 26, 2024
Eagles on the par-five second and seventh holes and then a birdie on the eighth took him out in 31, and he added four birdies and a single bogey on the back nine to stake his claim for another victory following his latest triumph in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final at the Pezula Championship Course in November last year.
“I made two eagles on the front nine and that always sets you up nicely for a low round, and I putted well today. But this is also just a nice golf course and I do enjoy it here.”
The four-round tournament is the perfect preparation early in the year for the upcoming swing of DP World Tour and European Challenge Tour events in February and March.
“This is a great event to start the year off with, and it’s always nice to have new sponsors on the Sunshine Tour like Mediclinic. We’re extremely fortunate to have a full tour in South Africa, and this is a great event to get our campaigns going again after the break.
“I’m looking forward to the next two days to get a little bit more practice in before our co-sanctioned events. But I’m not even taking it day by day now. It’s more like hole by hole. We’ll see what the next two days have in store for me and I’m looking forward to it.”
SCORES
134 - Neil Schietekat 70 64
135 - Jovan Rebula 66 69, Oliver Bekker 65 70, Sean Bradley 67 68, Ryan Van Velzen 66 69, Willie Olivier 65 70
136 - Sean Cronje 71 65, Peter Karmis 69 67, Yurav Premlall 70 66, Dylan Mostert 71 65, Jacques P de Villiers 67 69
137 - Ruan Conradie 69 68, Luca Filippi 68 69, Robson Chinhoi 69 68, Dan Erickson 72 65, LB Boshoff 72 65, Jean Hugo 67 70, Herman Loubser 68 69, Dylan Naidoo 70 67
138 - Jbe Kruger 68 70, Callum Mowat 68 70, Estiaan Conradie 70 68, Kyle Barker 69 69, Danie Van Niekerk 68 70, Jacques Blaauw 67 71, Matthew Spacey 66 72
139 - Keegan Mclachlan 70 69, Louis Albertse 68 71, DK Kim 69 70, Quintin Wilsnach 66 73, Wynand Dingle 68 71, Ulrich van den Berg 72 67, Jason Roets 70 69
140 - Madalitso Muthiya 71 69, Toto Thimba Jnr 68 72, Leon Visser 70 70, Vaughn van Deventer 71 69, Gerhard Pepler 71 69, Robin Williams 69 71, Keith Horne 70 70, Jacques Kruyswijk 70 70, Martin Rohwer 68 72, Haydn Porteous 71 69, Jack Hawksby 72 68, Bryce Easton 68 72, Sentanio Minnie 69 71
141 - Richard Joubert 75 66, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 71, Jonathan Broomhead 71 70, Jason Smith 69 72, Fredrik From 71 70, Michael Hollick 72 69, Ricky Hendler 69 72, Luke Trocado 69 72
142 - Thabiso Ngcobo 77 65, JC Ritchie 70 72, Pieter Moolman 70 72, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 71, Nicholaus Frade 72 70, Wade Jacobs 71 71, Reinhardt Blaauw 69 73, Tyron Davidowitz 73 69, Ruan Korb 71 71, Stefan Wears-Taylor 71 71, Daniel van Tonder 71 71, Luke Jerling 73 69, Ethan Smith 71 71
Missed the cut:
143 - Travis Ladner 72 71, MJ Viljoen 71 72, Hayden Griffiths 71 72, Kyle McClatchie 73 70, Doug McGuigan 70 73, Martin Vorster 70 73, Tristen Strydom 72 71, Lyle Rowe 73 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 66 77, Jastice Mashego 72 71
144 - Joe Long 70 74, James Kamte 71 73, Pierre Pellegrin 70 74, Rourke van der Spuy 75 69, Siyanda Mwandla 73 71, Samuel Simpson 74 70, Allister de Kock 70 74, Combrinck Smit 71 73, Stuart Krog 74 70, Alex Haindl 73 71
145 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 75, Nyasha Muyambo 71 74, Luke Brown 74 71, Anthony Michael 71 74, Heinrich Bruiners 73 72, Hunter Epson 76 69, Keelan van Wyk 74 71, Anton Karlsson 72 73, James Hart du Preez 72 73, Christiaan Basson 73 72, Kyle De Beer 74 71, James Mack 75 70, Drikus Joubert 71 74, Adriel Poonan 72 73
146 - Adam Breen 75 71, CJ du Plessis 77 69, Jared Harvey 77 69, Jonathan Waschefort 69 77, Steven Le Roux 74 72, Thabang Simon 73 73, Karabo Mokoena 76 70, Albert Venter 69 77, Benjamin Follett-Smith 78 68
147 - Keelan Africa 71 76, Franklin Manchest 75 72, Conner Mackenzie 70 77, Malcolm Mitchell 72 75, Keagan Thomas 74 73, Clancy Waugh 71 76, Richie O'Donovan 76 71, Jake Redman 71 76, Erhard Lambrechts 71 76, Slenda Sithebe 73 74
148 - Omar Sandys 76 72, Nikhil Rama 73 75, Ruan de Smidt 80 68, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 74 74, Aneurin Gounden 74 74, Dayne Moore 70 78, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 71 77
149 - Gerard du Plooy 72 77, Ryan Tipping 72 77, Tristin Galant 76 73, Gerhard Trytsman 74 75, Gregory Mckay 75 74, Irvin Mazibuko 76 73
150 - Brandon-Jude Rennie 75 75, Shalan Govender 79 71
151 - Michael Kok 74 77, James Pennington 75 76
152 - Christiaan Burke 75 77
153 - Merrick Bremner 76 77, Bradford Vaughan 76 77, Alphius Kelapile 71 82
154 - Lindani Ndwandwe 77 77
RTD - Keenan Davidse 77 RTD