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McGuigan, Easton on song

Bela Bela - Doug McGuigan and Bryce Easton will take a three-stroke lead into Friday’s final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Zebula Country Club.

But both are keenly aware that the serenity of the bushveld will be briefly interrupted by a scoring onslaught on the final day.

A second round of 64 from Easton and a 66 from McGuigan for a total of 12 under is by no means enough on a golf course where
the speed of the greens is matched only by the speed with which the leaderboard can change.

Andrew Georgiou is their nearest challenger at nine under, playing better golf with each week and hoping to reach top form as he builds towards a debut in the British Open in July.

And of the top 10 on the leaderboard, only one has failed to shoot par or better over two days. That was Louis de Jager, who followed up his opening 64 with a 73 on Thursday.

“There’s a bunch of players within two or three shots and you’re going to need another good round on the final day to stand a chance,” said Easton.

On a day when the wind was a bit stronger, Easton made his move over the turn. Teeing off the 10th, he birdied 15 and 17, and then hit a seven iron to 20 feet and holed the putt for eagle on the par-five 18th. “That really got the round going,” he said, as he
went on to birdie holes one, two and four before closing with a birdie at eight.

“I didn’t finish my first round like I wanted and was a bit frustrated, so I was pleased to have no bogeys today.”
McGuigan has been equally satisfied with two days of supreme consistency, including a second successive 66 and four nine-hole scores of 33.

“That’s a first for me. I also haven’t made a bogey in two days, which I’m pleased with. That’s a big confidence builder.”

Much like Easton, he did well to play holes six, seven and eight without dropping shots. The par-three eighth in particular did some damage to many a scorecard. Allan Versfeld followed up his eight on the par-four seventh with a five on the eighth on his way to an 80. And Theunis Spangenberg suffered just as much through that stretch, with a double bogey on seven, a quadruple bogey on eight and then a bogey on nine, also for an 80.

“Those last few holes on the front nine were tough so I was happy to make my pars there and move on,” said McGuigan, who has been enjoying the bushveld experience this week.

“I fed the elephants here the other day. That was a great experience.”

Scores (RSA unless otherwise specified):

132 - Doug McGuigan  66 66, Bryce Easton  68 64
135 - Andrew Georgiou  66 69
136 - Dean Burmester  67 69, Colin Nel  71 65, Danie van Tonder  70 66
137 - Louis de Jager  64 73
139 - Titch Moore  71 68, Bradford Vaughan  70 69
140 - Daniel Greene  72 68, Prinavin Nelson  64 76, Vaughn Groenewald  72 68, Albert Pistorius  67 73, Neil Schietekat  69 71,Justin Harding  71 69, Shaun Norris  70 70
141 - Ulrich van den Berg  71 70, Brandon Pieters  71 70, Jean Hugo  73 68, Andrew Curlewis  73 68
142 - Merrick Bremner  73 69, Oliver Bekker  72 70, Keith Horne  69 73, Jake Redman  71 71, Grant Veenstra  69 73, PH McIntyre  73 69,Matthew Carvell  72 70, Michiel Bothma  70 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr  69 73, Ryan Thompson  72 70
143 - Attie Schwartzel  72 71, Morne Buys  73 70, Omar Sandys  71 72, Divan Gerber  75 68, Lean Boezaart  73 70,Christiaan Basson  73 70, Charl Coetzee  72 71
144 - Ockie Strydom  68 76, JG Claassen  71 73, Dean O'Riley  72 72, Jaco Ahlers  74 70
Missed the cut:-
145 - Allan Versfeld  65 80, James Kamte  70 75, Desvonde Botes  70 75, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 70 75, Mark Murless  71 74, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 73 72,Grant Muller  73 72
146 - Dion Fourie  73 73, Joshua Cunliffe  75 71, Johan du Buisson  73 73, Jacques Blaauw  72 74, Anthony Michael  72 74
147 - Mark Williams  73 74, David Hewan  72 75, Des Terblanche  74 73, Divan van den Heever  76 71, Jake Roos  78 69
148 - Callie Swart  74 74, Lyle Rowe  73 75
149 - Beyers Smith  72 77, Louis Calitz  76 73, Alan Michell  70 79, Thabang Simon  76 73, Steven Ferreira  73 76
150 - Wayne Westner  79 71
151 - Lindani Ndwandwe  74 77, Theunis Spangenberg  71 80, Ryan Tipping  77 74, Johan Bekker  75 76
156 - Chris Swanepoel  80 76
158 - Hendrik Buhrmann  79 79
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