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Parys - Jacques Kruyswijk plays golf aggressively and it paid off in spades on Thursday as he carded a nine-under-par 63 to lead the R650 000 Vodacom Origins of Golf event presented by Samsung at Vaal de Grace by two shots.
Chasing him was Jean Hugo, who put on a pretty impressive display of his own on his way to a six-under-par 66, which left on 13-under-par for the 54-hole tournament, and within striking distance of Kruyswijk’s 36-hole total of 129.
“I play this game this way because it gives me an adrenaline rush,” said Kruyswijk. “Off the tee, I was hitting it really well. I put myself into really good positions to score from. Hitting driver from the tees and hitting it straight puts you in a good position, leaving yourself short irons in, and if you make a couple of putts, you can really go low here.”
Even basking in the immediate afterglow of his scoring pyrotechnics, he was wary of being chased down. “I still see a couple of low scores coming in this afternoon,” he said.
And he was right: Besides Hugo’s 66, he had the charging trio of Zander Lombard, Jaco Ahlers and Ulrich van den Berg snapping at his heels, sharing third on 11-under. Lombard offset his three bogeys with six birdies and an eagle to fire a 67; Ahlers shook off his opening bogey with five birdies and an eagle for his 66; and Van den Berg closed with three successive birdies on his way to a 67.
And Hugo set off on his round with the express intention of catching Kruyswijk when he teed off just before the leader finished his round. “I felt I should,” said Hugo. “If you leave yourself five back, you’re going to struggle.”
The chaser could have been even further back had Kruyswijk not missed a two-footer for birdie on the par-five 17th. “The little putt on 17 – I am kicking myself! I let that one get away from me, but you can’t look at it like that,” said Kruyswijk. “It’s still a good round and I’m still very happy about it.”
It marked a change in fortunes for the 24-year-old from Centurion, who has missed three successive cuts. “I’m really happy,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a struggle the last few weeks, but I’ve been working really hard with my coach on a couple of things. I felt really comfortable stepping on this course this week – it suits my game perfectly.
“One of my good mates is on my bag this week. He knows my game well. That helps a lot and keeps me confident and keeps me positive. And very calm as well. I sometimes get a little bit hard on myself. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to golf, but he helps me focus on the right stuff.”
He won’t hold back in the final round: “I’m very positive going into tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll have the same game plan as I had today and as I had yesterday – going straight at the pins. One or two, I can’t go for and you have to play percentage golf here and there, but aggressive play on this course is perfect,” he said.
Scores:
129 - Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA) 66 63
131 - Jean Hugo (RSA) 65 66
133 - Zander Lombard (RSA) 66 67, Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 67 66, Ulrich van den Berg (RSA) 66 67
134 - Jacquin Hess (RSA) 64 70
135 - Jeff Inglis (ENG) 67 68, Tyrone Ryan (RSA) 70 65, Dean Burmester (RSA) 67 68
136 - Toto Thimba (Jnr) 69 67, JJ Senekal (RSA) 69 67, Andrew Curlewis (RSA) 69 67, Michael Hollick (RSA) 69 67
137 - Stuart Smith (BOT) 74 63, Pieter Moolman (RSA) 70 67, Derik Ferreira (RSA) 67 70, Rhys West (RSA) 71 66,Justin Harding (RSA) 71 66, Brandon Stone (RSA) 70 67, Drikus van der Walt (RSA) 64 73
138 - Maritz Wessels (RSA) 70 68, CJ du Plessis (RSA) 68 70, Mark Murless (RSA) 71 67, MJ Viljoen (RSA) 75 63,Callie Swart (RSA) 67 71
139 - Tyrone Ferreira (RSA) 70 69, Dayne Moore (ZAM) 71 68, Glen de Waal (NAM) 69 70, Ruan de Smidt (RSA) 68 71,Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 71 68, Rourke van der Spuy (RSA) 72 67, Jared Harvey (RSA) 72 67
140 - Burger Heckroodt (RSA) 71 69, Teboho Sefatsa (RSA) 71 69, Matthew Carvell (RSA) 72 68, Neil Schietekat (RSA) 72 68,Mark Williams (ZIM) 71 69, Colin Nel (RSA) 72 68, Francois Coetzee (RSA) 67 73, Ockie Strydom (RSA) 75 65,Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN) 70 70, Allan Versfeld (RSA) 72 68, Jake Redman (RSA) 71 69, JC Ritchie (RSA) 73 67,Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 71 69, Calvin Caldeira (RSA) 69 71
Missed the cut:
141 - Drikus Bruyns (RSA) 73 68, Bradford Vaughan (RSA) 72 69, Heinrich Bruiners (RSA) 72 69, Breyten Meyer (RSA) 70 71, Ruan Huysamen (NAM) 71 70, Gert Myburgh (RSA) 75 66, Jaco Prinsloo (RSA) 71 70, Christiaan Basson (RSA) 71 70, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 70 71, Doug McGuigan (RSA) 73 68, Jacques Blaauw (RSA) 69 72, Chris Swanepoel (RSA) 66 75, Alex Haindl (RSA) 69 72, Roberto Lupini (RSA) 70 71, Makhetha Mazibuko (RSA) 70 71, Russel Franz (RSA) 70 71,Brett Liddle (RSA) 71 70
142 - Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 71 71, Lean Boezaart (RSA) 71 71, Etienne Bond (RSA) 72 70, Steven Ferreira (RSA) 71 71, Grant Muller (RSA) 74 68, Arthur Horne (SWZ) 73 69, Bryce Easton (RSA) 72 70, Werner van Niekerk (RSA) 73 69
143 - Greg Bentley (ZIM) 73 70, Louis Calitz (RSA) 70 73, Justin Turner (RSA) 73 70, Trevor Mahoney (RSA) 74 69,Andrew Georgiou (CYP) 74 69
144 - Coert Groenewald (RSA) 72 72, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 70 74, Anthony Michael (RSA) 72 72, Divan Gerber (RSA) 77 67, Kevin Rundle (RSA) 69 75, Hennie du Plessis (RSA) 70 74, Wynand Dingle (RSA) 75 69
145 - Desvonde Botes (RSA) 73 72, Keenan Davidse (RSA) 74 71, Antonio Rosado (POR) 71 74,Divan van den Heever (RSA) 71 74, Attie Schwartzel (RSA) 73 72, Grant Veenstra (RSA) 71 74, Bryce Bibby (RSA) 74 71,Dwayne Basson (RSA) 75 70, Stephen Ferreira (POR) 78 67, Le Roux Ferreira (RSA) 73 72, Daniel Greene (RSA) 75 70,Wayne De Haas (RSA) 71 74
146 - Joe Nawanga (NAM) 74 72, Theunis Spangenberg (RSA) 76 70, Ryan Tipping (RSA) 69 77, Lyle Rowe (RSA) 73 73, Titch Moore (RSA) 70 76, Michiel Bothma (RSA) 73 73
147 - Tyron Roelofsz (RSA) 75 72, Juan Langeveld (RSA) 75 72, Andre Cruse (RSA) 74 73, Andrew McLardy (RSA) 71 76, Eddie Taylor (RSA) 76 71, Derick Petersen (RSA) 76 71, John Bele (RSA) 76 71, Morne Buys (RSA) 76 71,Otto van Greunen (RSA) 76 71
148 - Jean-Paul Strydom (RSA) 75 73, Callum Mowat (RSA) 78 70, Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA) 74 74, Dongkwan Kim (KOR) 76 72, Allister de Kock (RSA) 73 75, Louis de Jager (RSA) 78 70, Thanda Mavundla (RSA) 75 73
149 - Farayi Chitengwa (ZIM) 74 75
150 - Sipho Bujela (RSA) 75 75
153 - Roux Jeffery (NAM) 79 74
154 - Charl Coetzee (RSA) 80 74
155 - Thabang Simon (RSA) 76 79
