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Malelane - Jbe’ Kruger said his putting wasn’t up to scratch on Friday, but he made enough to carve out a four-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the €1-million Alfred Dunhill Championship.
He overcame two early bogeys in the first four holes of his round to finish up with a five-under-par 67, taking him to 13-under-par 131 over the 6,665-metre (7,249-yard) Leopard Creek in the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour.
His nearest pursuers were Felipe Aguilar of Chile, Scotland’s George Murray and England’s Seve Benson who shared the overnight lead with him.
“The putts just don’t want to drop, believe it or not,” Kruger said. “I’ve been hitting it close the last couple of days. On 15, 16 and 17 – I can’t believe how the putt on 15 missed, and on 17, the same thing.”
He certainly started as if his putting was going to be as hot as the temperatures, as he hit his approach on the 530-metre (580-yard) second right next to playing partner Shaun Norris’ ball 25 feet from the pin.
“I got the line from his putt,” he laughed. “It’s not really easy, but it helps.”
He rode the good fortune from that eagle to negate the effect of the bogeys, and when he birdied six, his momentum returned.
And the smile returned to his face with three birdies in a row from the 12th, and his closer on 18 cemented it there.
“I didn’t have fun in the early part of my round,” he said, “but later I did have fun. I think you should have fun, otherwise, why play. If you enjoy it you tend to play better.”
One person who didn’t have fun was George Coetzee, who put a dent in his chances for winning the tournament with a double bogey-double bogey-bogey finish to his round, and he looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but at Leopard Creek.
He hit his tee shot into the water on seven after he started his round on the 10th and had moved to 12-under-par with three holes to play.
His shot from the drop zone on seven was short and he two putted, and then he duffed a simple chip from the fringe of the green after a perfect tee shot on his way to a double bogey on eight.
Then he took two to get out of a greenside bunker on nine, and he slumped to a one-under 71 for the round.
But Aguilar was flawless on his way to his eight-under-par 64, the best round of the day. “It was a solid day. You never win a tournament in the first two days, but you can always lose it,” he said. “As long as you put yourself into contention, then you are going to have a fun weekend.”
In a share of fifth place on eight-under for the tournament were Merrick Bremner and Jaco van Zyl. They each carded their second successive 68.
“You have to work your way around here. You can’t be too aggressive, you have to take opportunities when they come,” Van Zyl said.
But the race is on to catch Kruger. And they all better hope his putting doesn’t improve.
“If I can get it going, you never know,” he said.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
131 - Jbe' Kruger 64 67
135 - Felipe Aguilar (CHL) 71 64, George Murray (SCO) 66 69, Seve Benson (ENG) 64 71
136 - Jaco Van Zyl 68 68, Merrick Bremner 68 68
137 - Bryce Easton 72 65, George Coetzee 66 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 66 71, Garth Mulroy 69 68, Hennie Otto 69 68
138 - Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 68 70, Lloyd Saltman (SCO) 70 68, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 68 70, Tjaart van der Walt 69 69, David Hewan 67 71
139 - Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 71 68, Steven Tiley (ENG) 70 69, Alan McLean (SCO) 66 73, Tano Goya (ARG) 69 70
140 - Graeme Storm (ENG) 72 68, Christiaan Basson 70 70, Peter Whiteford(SCO) 73 67, Chris Swanepoel 69 71, Linus Gillgren (SWE) 69 71, Joel Sjoholm (SWE) 74 66, Grant Muller 72 68
141 - Darren Fichardt 71 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 70 71, Vaughn Groenewald 76 65
142 - Adam Gee (ENG) 72 70, Oliver Bekker 73 69, Jean Hugo 69 73, Stuart Manley (WAL) 71 71, Andrew Curlewis 72 70, Lee Slattery (ENG) 67 75, James Kamte 72 70, Sam Little (ENG) 70 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 70, Josh Cunliffe 67 75, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 72 70
143 - Sam Hutsby (ENG) 72 71, Alastair Forsyth(SCO) 75 68, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 72 71, Oskar Henningsson (SWE) 76 67, Tyrone Mordt 68 75, Shaun Norris 71 72, Robert Coles (ENG) 74 69, Jarmo Sandelin (SWE) 76 67, Jurgen Maurer (AUT) 78 65, Doug McGuigan 70 73, Justin Walters 71 72
144 - Keith Horne 74 70, Warren Abery 75 69, Sebi Garcia (ESP) 73 71, Michiel Bothma 71 73, Robert Rock (ENG) 69 75, Allan Versfeld 75 69, Martin Maritz 77 67, Tim Sluiter (NED) 70 74, Liam Bond (WAL) 69 75, Alan Michell 71 73, Des Terblanche 72 72, Neil Schietekat 69 75, Phillip Price (WAL) 74 70, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 72 72, Cesar Monasterio (ARG) 72 72
Missed the cut:-
145 - Oscar Floren (SWE) 74 71, Callum Macaulay (SCO) 75 70, Julien Guerrier (FRA) 75 70, Charl Coetzee 73 72, Steven Ferreira 72 73, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 75 70, David Dixon (ENG) 76 69, Mark Tullo (CHI) 78 67, Clodomiro Carranza (ARG) 76 69, Thomas Norret (DEN) 72 73, Steve Lewton (ENG) 73 72, Deane Pappas 72 73, Richard Finch (ENG) 73 72, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 70 75, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 72 73, Johan du Buisson 76 69, Darryn Lloyd 71 74
146 - James Kingston 79 67, Prinavin Nelson 76 70, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 72 74, Simon Wakefield (ENG) 71 75, Scott Jamieson (SCO) 75 71, Paul Broadhurst (ENG) 75 71, Ariel Canete (ARG) 73 73, Jamie Elson (ENG) 74 72
147 - Louis Moolman 77 70, Elliot Saltman (SCO) 77 70, Brandon Pieters 78 69, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 74 73, Kyle Scott 75 72, Daniel Greene 77 70, Alex Haindl 72 75, Louis de Jager 72 75, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 73 74, Colin Nel 76 71, David Drysdale (SCO) 75 72, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 74 73, Thomas Aiken 75 72
148 - Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 71 77, Rafa Echenique (ARG) 73 75, Branden Grace 69 79, Anthony Michael 80 68, Justin Harding 74 74, Dean Burmester 74 74, Ulrich van den Berg 72 76
149 - Bradford Vaughan 72 77, Callie Swart 74 75, Peter Wilson (ENG) 71 78, Jaco Ahlers 72 77, TC Charamba (ZIM) 76 73, Manuel Quiros (ESP) 80 69, Desvonde Botes 74 75, Markus Brier (AUT) 76 73, Marco Ruiz (PAR) 72 77, Divan van den Heever 78 71
150 - Tyrone Ryan 76 74, Andrew Georgiou 76 74, Tyrone Ferreira 76 74, Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 75 75, Willie van der Merwe 76 74
151 - Jake Roos 78 73, Matt Haines (ENG) 80 71, Wade Ormsby(AUS) 76 75, Anthony Snobeck (FRA) 72 79, PH McIntyre 77 74, Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR) 77 74, Nico van Rensburg 77 74, Andreas Hartø (DEN) 73 78
152 - Paul Cutler (NIR) 78 74, Theunis Spangenberg 79 73, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 72 80, Dodge Kemmer (USA) 79 73, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 73 79, Albert Pistorius 74 78, Hendrik Buhrmann 74 78, Joakim Haeggman(SWE) 72 80, Julio Zapata (ARG) 75 77
153 - Jacques Blaauw 77 76, Andre Cruse 77 76, Floris de Vries (NED) 73 80
154 - Joaquin Estevez (ARG) 82 72
155 - Marc Warren (SCO) 73 82
156 - Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 77 79, Robert Wiederkehr (SUI) 80 76, Mark Murless 80 76
158 - Daniel Vancsik (ARG) 81 77
161 - Ryan Tipping 80 81
163 - Pablo Martin (ESP) 81 82, JG Claassen 84 79
He overcame two early bogeys in the first four holes of his round to finish up with a five-under-par 67, taking him to 13-under-par 131 over the 6,665-metre (7,249-yard) Leopard Creek in the tournament co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour.
His nearest pursuers were Felipe Aguilar of Chile, Scotland’s George Murray and England’s Seve Benson who shared the overnight lead with him.
“The putts just don’t want to drop, believe it or not,” Kruger said. “I’ve been hitting it close the last couple of days. On 15, 16 and 17 – I can’t believe how the putt on 15 missed, and on 17, the same thing.”
He certainly started as if his putting was going to be as hot as the temperatures, as he hit his approach on the 530-metre (580-yard) second right next to playing partner Shaun Norris’ ball 25 feet from the pin.
“I got the line from his putt,” he laughed. “It’s not really easy, but it helps.”
He rode the good fortune from that eagle to negate the effect of the bogeys, and when he birdied six, his momentum returned.
And the smile returned to his face with three birdies in a row from the 12th, and his closer on 18 cemented it there.
“I didn’t have fun in the early part of my round,” he said, “but later I did have fun. I think you should have fun, otherwise, why play. If you enjoy it you tend to play better.”
One person who didn’t have fun was George Coetzee, who put a dent in his chances for winning the tournament with a double bogey-double bogey-bogey finish to his round, and he looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but at Leopard Creek.
He hit his tee shot into the water on seven after he started his round on the 10th and had moved to 12-under-par with three holes to play.
His shot from the drop zone on seven was short and he two putted, and then he duffed a simple chip from the fringe of the green after a perfect tee shot on his way to a double bogey on eight.
Then he took two to get out of a greenside bunker on nine, and he slumped to a one-under 71 for the round.
But Aguilar was flawless on his way to his eight-under-par 64, the best round of the day. “It was a solid day. You never win a tournament in the first two days, but you can always lose it,” he said. “As long as you put yourself into contention, then you are going to have a fun weekend.”
In a share of fifth place on eight-under for the tournament were Merrick Bremner and Jaco van Zyl. They each carded their second successive 68.
“You have to work your way around here. You can’t be too aggressive, you have to take opportunities when they come,” Van Zyl said.
But the race is on to catch Kruger. And they all better hope his putting doesn’t improve.
“If I can get it going, you never know,” he said.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
131 - Jbe' Kruger 64 67
135 - Felipe Aguilar (CHL) 71 64, George Murray (SCO) 66 69, Seve Benson (ENG) 64 71
136 - Jaco Van Zyl 68 68, Merrick Bremner 68 68
137 - Bryce Easton 72 65, George Coetzee 66 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 66 71, Garth Mulroy 69 68, Hennie Otto 69 68
138 - Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 68 70, Lloyd Saltman (SCO) 70 68, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 68 70, Tjaart van der Walt 69 69, David Hewan 67 71
139 - Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 71 68, Steven Tiley (ENG) 70 69, Alan McLean (SCO) 66 73, Tano Goya (ARG) 69 70
140 - Graeme Storm (ENG) 72 68, Christiaan Basson 70 70, Peter Whiteford(SCO) 73 67, Chris Swanepoel 69 71, Linus Gillgren (SWE) 69 71, Joel Sjoholm (SWE) 74 66, Grant Muller 72 68
141 - Darren Fichardt 71 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 70 71, Vaughn Groenewald 76 65
142 - Adam Gee (ENG) 72 70, Oliver Bekker 73 69, Jean Hugo 69 73, Stuart Manley (WAL) 71 71, Andrew Curlewis 72 70, Lee Slattery (ENG) 67 75, James Kamte 72 70, Sam Little (ENG) 70 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 70, Josh Cunliffe 67 75, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 72 70
143 - Sam Hutsby (ENG) 72 71, Alastair Forsyth(SCO) 75 68, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 72 71, Oskar Henningsson (SWE) 76 67, Tyrone Mordt 68 75, Shaun Norris 71 72, Robert Coles (ENG) 74 69, Jarmo Sandelin (SWE) 76 67, Jurgen Maurer (AUT) 78 65, Doug McGuigan 70 73, Justin Walters 71 72
144 - Keith Horne 74 70, Warren Abery 75 69, Sebi Garcia (ESP) 73 71, Michiel Bothma 71 73, Robert Rock (ENG) 69 75, Allan Versfeld 75 69, Martin Maritz 77 67, Tim Sluiter (NED) 70 74, Liam Bond (WAL) 69 75, Alan Michell 71 73, Des Terblanche 72 72, Neil Schietekat 69 75, Phillip Price (WAL) 74 70, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 72 72, Cesar Monasterio (ARG) 72 72
Missed the cut:-
145 - Oscar Floren (SWE) 74 71, Callum Macaulay (SCO) 75 70, Julien Guerrier (FRA) 75 70, Charl Coetzee 73 72, Steven Ferreira 72 73, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 75 70, David Dixon (ENG) 76 69, Mark Tullo (CHI) 78 67, Clodomiro Carranza (ARG) 76 69, Thomas Norret (DEN) 72 73, Steve Lewton (ENG) 73 72, Deane Pappas 72 73, Richard Finch (ENG) 73 72, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 70 75, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 72 73, Johan du Buisson 76 69, Darryn Lloyd 71 74
146 - James Kingston 79 67, Prinavin Nelson 76 70, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 72 74, Simon Wakefield (ENG) 71 75, Scott Jamieson (SCO) 75 71, Paul Broadhurst (ENG) 75 71, Ariel Canete (ARG) 73 73, Jamie Elson (ENG) 74 72
147 - Louis Moolman 77 70, Elliot Saltman (SCO) 77 70, Brandon Pieters 78 69, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 74 73, Kyle Scott 75 72, Daniel Greene 77 70, Alex Haindl 72 75, Louis de Jager 72 75, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 73 74, Colin Nel 76 71, David Drysdale (SCO) 75 72, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 74 73, Thomas Aiken 75 72
148 - Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 71 77, Rafa Echenique (ARG) 73 75, Branden Grace 69 79, Anthony Michael 80 68, Justin Harding 74 74, Dean Burmester 74 74, Ulrich van den Berg 72 76
149 - Bradford Vaughan 72 77, Callie Swart 74 75, Peter Wilson (ENG) 71 78, Jaco Ahlers 72 77, TC Charamba (ZIM) 76 73, Manuel Quiros (ESP) 80 69, Desvonde Botes 74 75, Markus Brier (AUT) 76 73, Marco Ruiz (PAR) 72 77, Divan van den Heever 78 71
150 - Tyrone Ryan 76 74, Andrew Georgiou 76 74, Tyrone Ferreira 76 74, Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 75 75, Willie van der Merwe 76 74
151 - Jake Roos 78 73, Matt Haines (ENG) 80 71, Wade Ormsby(AUS) 76 75, Anthony Snobeck (FRA) 72 79, PH McIntyre 77 74, Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR) 77 74, Nico van Rensburg 77 74, Andreas Hartø (DEN) 73 78
152 - Paul Cutler (NIR) 78 74, Theunis Spangenberg 79 73, Daniel Gaunt (AUS) 72 80, Dodge Kemmer (USA) 79 73, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 73 79, Albert Pistorius 74 78, Hendrik Buhrmann 74 78, Joakim Haeggman(SWE) 72 80, Julio Zapata (ARG) 75 77
153 - Jacques Blaauw 77 76, Andre Cruse 77 76, Floris de Vries (NED) 73 80
154 - Joaquin Estevez (ARG) 82 72
155 - Marc Warren (SCO) 73 82
156 - Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 77 79, Robert Wiederkehr (SUI) 80 76, Mark Murless 80 76
158 - Daniel Vancsik (ARG) 81 77
161 - Ryan Tipping 80 81
163 - Pablo Martin (ESP) 81 82, JG Claassen 84 79
