GOLFING NEWS - Merrick Bremner surged into the lead in the Kyalami Challenge courtesy of a pair of eagles, but the five-time Sunshine Tour winner will have Musi Nethunzwi from the Gary Player Class of 2017 in close pursuit as he targets back-to-back IGT Challenge Tour titles on Wednesday.
Fuelled by his Waterkloof Challenge victory last week, Bremner fired a blistering eight-under-par 64 in Tuesday’s second round to move to 12 under 132.
The Investec Property player pencilled in threes at the par five fifth and 13th holes, birdies at one, two, six, 15 and 18 and a lone bogey at 12 to finish two shots ahead of Nethunzwi, who was equally impressive with a flawless exhibition at the championship layout in Midrand.
Tied with Bremner at four under at the start of round two, he turned six under after a brace of birdies at the third and fourth holes. An eagle at 13 and further gains at 15 and 18 for a 66 helped the 27-year-old Soweto golfer to second and he leads by one from first round leader Tyron McComb, who returned a 72.
“I holed a six-footer for birdie at four and rolled my first putt at the fifth to tap-in distance,” Nethunzwi said. “The 13th played straight into the wind, so I took driver off the tee and had 189 metres left to the pin. I hit a five-iron to four feet and holed the putt. I holed an eight footer for birdie at 15 and hit a seven-iron pin-high left at 18 and two-putted for the birdie.
“The greens are running very true and they hold the line really well. I only missed one fairway and that was at 18. I hit 16 greens in regulation, so I’m really happy with the state of my game. This is great preparation for the Zimbabwe Open next week and Zambia after.”
Before Nethunzwi turned pro, he earned a berth on the South African team for the 2012 Africa Zone VI Golf Championships on merit and left for Malawi with Brandon Stone, Haydn Porteous, Zander Lombard, Shaun Smith, Drikus Bruyns, CJ du Plessis and Gert Myburgh. He made a dream start in his debut for South Africa, beating his Tanzanian opponent 7&6 and helping the team to a 12th successive victory in the premier African team championship.
Nethunzwi earned his Sunshine Tour card at the 2013 Vusi Ngubeni Qualifying School, but struggled to adjust to the pace and standard of the pro ranks. In December last year, he was selected for the Gary Player Class of 2017 programme and the Modderfontein golfer believes that campaigning on the country’s premier golf development circuit has been hugely beneficial.
“I felt I was ready for the pro ranks, but I really wasn’t mature enough to handle all the pressure,” Nethunzwi said. “I heard people say that the IGT Challenge Tour is the bridge between amateur and pro golf and I believe it. Since I’ve been playing here, I’ve been improving week-on-week.
“Two weeks ago, Sipho (Bujela) and I tied for eighth in the Wanderers Betterball and last week I shot 10 under to tie for 10th in the Waterkloof Challenge. Every week I see some improvement and my confidence is coming back.
“This is my best I’ve done so far and this is what I’ve been playing for; to be in the top five and to compete against the best players. That’s why I’m really looking forward to playing with Merrick and Tyron in the final round. Great players always motivate you to work harder, dig deeper and focus longer and that’s what I need right now to take my game up another notch.”
The trio at the top lead a high quality chasing pack, including Sunshine Tour campaigners Erik van Rooyen at eight under and JC Ritchie at seven under. IGT Challenge Tour winner Andi Dill sits at six under and 2017 Sunshine Tour Qualifying School winner Herman Loubser moved to seventh at five under with a three-under 69.
Second Round Scores
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA
132 - Merrick Bremner 68 64
134 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 68 66
135 - Tyron Mc Comb 63 72
136 - Erik van Rooyen 69 67
137 - JC Ritchie 67 70
138 - Andi Dill 66 72
139 - Herman Loubser 70 69
140 - Matthew Spacey 69 71, Breyten Meyer 67 73, MJ Viljoen 69 71
141 - Paul Boshoff 70 71, Juan Langeveld 69 72, Tyrone Ryan 71 70, Kyle Barker 69 72
142 - Keelan van Wyk AMA 72 70, Sheldon Steyn (ZIM) 70 72
143 - Bryce Myburgh 71 72, Matthew Vogel 73 70
144 - Gareth Clements AMA 70 74, Coert Groenewald 71 73, Steven Ferreira 72 72, Andrew Carlsson AMA 70 74
145 - Michael Dreyer 67 78, NJ Arnoldi 71 74, Armand van Dyk AMA 73 72
146 - Jaco Prinsloo 75 71, Irvin Mazibuko 73 73, Wayne Stroebel 77 69, Ruhan van Dijk AMA 70 76, Brendan Britten (NAM) 73 73, Duane Keun 75 71, Dylan Docherty 75 71
147 - Jason Smith 72 75, Sipho Bujela 70 77, Paul Rodrigues AMA 74 73, Arthur Horne (SWA) 74 73, Jacquin Hess 74 73, Ivanna Samu 70 77, Shaun van Tonder 73 74, Patric Dowling AMA 72 75, Luke Brown AMA 70 77
148 - Eric Nel AMA 73 75
149 - Ryan Liebenberg AMA 77 72, Ricardo Towell 78 71, Thabang Simon 76 73, Heinrich Bruiners 73 76, Divan Marais 74 75, CJ Levey 75 74, Tristan Topka AMA 75 74
150 - Teagan Moore 75 75, Louis Botha 73 77, Ruan Korb 74 76, Simon Kruger 76 74
Missed the cut:-
151 - Jihwan Yeom AMA 74 77, Byron Garvie 75 76, Gerard du Plooy 75 76, Matthew Rossouw AMA 71 80, Songezo Sonamzi 75 76
152 - Matt Westner 75 77, Albert Visser 78 74
153 - Quintin Crause 78 75, Brandon Cloete 75 78, Thabi Ngcobo 75 78
154 - Arno Pretorius AMA 77 77
155 - Jandre Fullard 73 82, Eric Park (KOR) 81 74
157 - Gary Jutzen AMA 84 73, Jack Kutumane 80 77
158 - Liam Clinton AMA 84 74
159 - Teboho Sefatsa 79 80
162 - Alex Krebs AMA 84 78, Paulo Serrao AMA (POR) 82 80
163 - Dylan Morton AMA 83 80, Gareth Anderson AMA 83 80, Duan Nagel AMA 86 77
168 - Tumie Motale 85 83
171 - Zarko Fabricius AMA 85 86
190 - Theo Odendaal AMA 98 92
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
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