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Ruan sails to Suncoast lead

Durban - Ruan de Smidt cruised down Durban Country Club’s back nine in 33 strokes on Friday, stamping his name on a three-stroke lead after round two of the Suncoast Classic.

“I’m very happy and hopefully I can do the same again tomorrow, but I don’t want to get too excited yet. I putted really well today and never had big misses, and that’s really crucial here,” he said.

The 23-year-old went bogey-free around a track that has hosted the SA Open 17 times, eventually signing for 69 and securing a three-shot cushion ahead of the final round on Saturday.

His last time in contention was at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final, where he played alongside European tour sensation Branden Grace during the final round.

“I hit a lot of two-irons today and my low shot is looking good,” said de Smidt. “I looked at Branden when I played with him at the Origins Final and tried to practice that shot, and it’s worked quite well. I learnt a lot from how Branden played, and I’ll approach the final round very differently.”

The Krugersdorp local held the halfway lead at the Zimbabwe Open earlier this year, but slid to third during the final round. He was ready for another crack at success.

“I was nervous during the one in Zim, but I didn’t really feel nervous today. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, and hopefully I can pull this one through,” he said.

Since winning the Sunshine Tour’s 2011 Qualifying School, de Smidt has made eight cuts and taken two top-10 finishes. 

Currently second to Danie van Tonder in the Rookie of the Year Race, the Krugersdorp local was keen on a good result.

“A win here would really be good for me, because it will help me get into all of the co-sanctioned events. At the moment I have to pre-qualify for all of them. And the Rookie of the Year Race is a plus if I can get it,” he said.

Wallie Coetsee will head up the chase on Saturday. With 20 years of experience and 38 top-10s to his name, he was ready to hunt down de Smidt’s three-stroke lead.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve been in contention, but I feel confident and I’m relaxed. I spent 20 years on the circuit, last won in ’97 and I’ve close a few times since then. I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m feeling confident for tomorrow,” he said.

Former champion Alex Haindl carded a massive nine birdies during the second round, securing a share of third alongside Teboho Sefatsa and Jacques Blaauw. Haindl won the inaugural Suncoast Classic in 2006 and optimistic about Saturday.

“I’ve always loved playing here, and on this course anything can happen,” said Haindl. “There are a lot of birdies, but there’s always plenty of trouble, so I think everyone’s got a chance. This has always been a special event to me, being the one that I won. It’s always nice coming here, it almost feels like home.”

SCORES:
(RSA unless otherwise specified):
137 - Ruan de Smidt  69 68
140 - Wallie Coetsee  71 69
142 - Alex Haindl  73 69, Teboho Sefatsa  73 69, Jacques Blaauw  72 70
143 - Alpheus Kelapile  77 66, Doug McGuigan  76 67
144 - Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 78 66, Vaughn Groenewald  74 70, Ulrich van den Berg  74 70, Titch Moore  73 71
145 - Lyle Rowe  76 69, Danie van Tonder  73 72
146 - Ben Mannix (ENG) 75 71, Louis de Jager  78 68, James Kingston  74 72, Daniel Hammond  74 72, Reggie Adams  74 72, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 75 71,Christiaan Basson  76 70, Daniel Greene  76 70, Jake Roos  77 69, Andre Cruse  75 71
147 - Allister de Kock  78 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr  74 73, Theunis Spangenberg  75 72, Pieter Moolman  74 73, Ross Wellington  73 74,Chris Swanepoel  78 69, Bryce Easton  77 70, Graham van der Merwe  74 73, Omar Sandys  76 71
148 - Drikus van der Walt  77 71, Ryan Tipping  78 70, Grant Muller  69 79, Jaco Ahlers  73 75, PH McIntyre  78 70
149 - David Hewan  77 72, Joshua Cunliffe  80 69, Andrew Curlewis  79 70, Ian Hutchings  72 77, Dean Burmester  73 76,Hendrik Buhrmann  76 73, Morne Buys  76 73
Missed the cut:-
150 - Robert Wiederkehr (SUI) 78 72, Lindani Ndwandwe  76 74, JJ Senekal  77 73, Matthew Carvell  77 73, Charl Coetzee  81 69,Tyrone Mordt  75 75, Michael Hollick  79 71
151 - Jacques van Tonder  79 72, Johan Bekker  76 75, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 81 70, James Kamte  78 73, Neil Schietekat  80 71,Riekus Nortje  82 69, Mark Fensham  76 75, Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN) 79 72, Bennie van der Merwe  75 76, Justin Harding  77 74,Colin Nel  81 70
152 - Nic Henning  76 76, Allan Versfeld  77 75, Darren Fichardt  82 70, Darryn Lloyd  80 72, Shaun Norris  83 69, Irvin Mazibuko  78 74,Brett Liddle  76 76, Adrian Ford  79 73, Martin du Toit  79 73
153 - Johan du Buisson  76 77, Divan van den Heever  82 71, Anthony Michael  82 71, Francois Haughton  82 71, Juan Langeveld  83 70,Jack Kutumane  80 73, Ockie Strydom  81 72, Lean Boezaart  75 78
154 - Steven Ferreira  79 75, Thabo Maseko  77 77, Jared Harvey  77 77, Andre van Zyl  75 79, Grant Veenstra  81 73
155 - George Brown  82 73, Louis Calitz  81 74, Ryan Strauss  84 71, Merrick Bremner  78 77, Gary Birch Jr (GER) 82 73, Vickesh Singh  81 74,Martin Smit  79 76, Derick Petersen  81 74, Peter Wilson (ENG) 78 77
156 - Chris Erasmus  82 74, Francois Coetzee  80 76, Thomas Lovett  82 74, Alan Michell  78 78
157 - Wynand Dingle  81 76, Wayne Westner  87 70, Jake Redman  81 76, Derik Ferreira  84 73, Steve Basson  79 78, JG Claassen  75 82,Keenan Davidse  84 73, Divan Gerber  84 73
158 - Attie Schwartzel  85 73, Desvonde Botes  83 75, Ryan Thompson  83 75, Thabang Simon  78 80, Michael Green  84 74,Bradford Vaughan  79 79
160 - Tyrone Ryan  83 77
161 - Beyers Smith  81 80, Brendan de Lange  82 79, Prinavin Nelson  89 72, Nathan Waghorn  80 81, Micky Hough (ZIM) 81 80,Tyrone Ferreira  85 76
162 - Alan McLean (SCO) 87 75, David Ryan  83 79
163 - Oliver Bekker  84 79, Francois van Vuuren  79 84
164 - Dean Schoultz (ZIM) 87 77, Stuart Smith (BOT) 86 78, Kevin Stone  90 74, Paul Bradshaw  89 75, Steven van Heerden  89 75
165 - Sung-Moon Hohng (KOR) 87 78
167 - Coenie Bester  92 75, Nisharlan Sewshanker  85 82, Mikhail Tewary  85 82
168 - Elvis Sithebe  81 87, Langley Perrins  81 87
171 - Johann Mostert  94 77
173 - Diether Schuss  92 81

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