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Sun City - On a day on which the Gary Player Country Club bared its teeth, Oliver Bekker was the only player who seemed to have its measure on Friday as he carded a five-under-par 67 to move into a share of the 36-hole lead of the Sun City Challenge.
First round leader Shaun Norris signed for a two-over-par 74 to slip into a share of the lead with Bekker at three-under 141 ahead of the cut which fell at six-over-par as only seven players finished up under par after two rounds.
“I hit it well today,” he said. “You have to hit it well around here, I gave myself a lot of chances, and I made some good putts between three and 10 feet, and that just kept the momentum going.”
Bekker’s round was the best of the day, and Ockie Strydom managed to record a four-under 68, thanks in large part to an eagle three on the ninth, while Portugal’s Antonio Rosado came home in three-under 69 on a day during which there were 10 scores of 10-over-par and worse.
Bekker started really well, with three birdies in his first four holes, and then dropped a shot on the sixth. But he negated that drop with a birdie on the iconic ninth to turn in three-under 33. He held things together after then turn, picking up another stroke when he made birdie on 13. Another bogey on 15 slowed him briefly, but he picked up consecutive birdies on the tough 17th and the closing 18th.
“On the 18th, I chipped it in, but I did tell my caddie that I was going to do that,” Bekker laughed.
What seemed to be causing problems for most of the players was that the greens were hard and fast. “They’re very tricky,” said Bekker.
“The greens are small and the pins were in some good places. I managed to leave myself in the right spots to have makeable putts. That’s all you can do out there.
“The last couple of weeks, I have been hitting my irons poorly. I worked a bit on the range for the last couple of days and found a little something. I hit some really good ion shots today, and I hit it inside four feet about four times. That makes it a lot easier.”
With the greens unlikely to get any softer or slower in the final round, Bekker will have to draw on that accuracy again if he is to draw clear of the rest of the field.
Scores:
141 - Shaun Norris 67 74, Oliver Bekker 74 67
142 - Theunis Spangenberg 69 73, Ockie Strydom 74 68
143 - Werner van Niekerk 71 72, Jbe’ Kruger 68 75, JC Ritchie 72 71
145 - Antonio Rosado 76 69, Vaughn Groenewald 69 76, Erik van Rooyen 71 74
146 - Christiaan Basson 73 73, Omar Sandys 75 71
147 - JJ Senekal 72 75, Breyten Meyer 73 74, Keith Horne 71 76, Doug McGuigan 71 76, Titch Moore 74 73, Louis de Jager 71 76, Russel Franz 74 73
148 - Callie Swart 76 72, Danie van Tonder 74 74, Jacques Kruyswijk 76 72, Madalitso Muthiya 74 74, Jean Hugo 74 74, Matthew Carvell 74 74, Tyrone Ferreira 76 72, Grant Veenstra 72 76, Le Roux Ferreira 75 73, Stuart Smith 75 73
149 - Dwayne Basson 72 77, Justin Harding 73 76, Callum Mowat 74 75, Wallie Coetsee 73 76, Ruan de Smidt 74 75, Jared Harvey 75 74
150 - Jake Roos 74 76, Jaco Ahlers 73 77, Lyle Rowe 75 75, Merrick Bremner 75 75, Rourke van der Spuy 77 73, Drikus Bruyns 76 74, Roux Jeffery 79 71, Andrew Curlewis 75 75, Bryce Easton 76 74, Jean-Paul Strydom 77 73, Mark Murless 74 76, James Kamte 73 77, Jason Diab 78 72, Stephen Ferreira 75 75
Missed the cut:
151 - Wynand Dingle 77 74, Charl Coetzee 75 76, Teaghan Gauche 76 75, Jason Froneman 75 76, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 76 75
152 - Bryce Bibby 78 74, Neil Schietekat 73 79, James Kingston 75 77, Etienne Bond 80 72, Chris Swanepoel 78 74, Rhys West 72 80, Heinrich Bruiners 72 80, MJ Viljoen 75 77, Makhetha Mazibuko 75 77
153 - Anthony Michael 80 73, Lindani Ndwandwe 73 80, Steven Ferreira 77 76, Dean Burmester 75 78, Trevor Fisher Jnr 74 79, Brett Liddle 78 75, Hennie du Plessis 75 78, Toto Thimba 77 76, Divan Gerber 74 79, Bryn Flanagan 78 75, Jeff Inglis 83 70, Colin Nel 73 80
154 - Ryan Cairns 75 79, Gideon Pienaar 73 81, Trevor Mahoney 75 79, Divan van den Heever 78 76
155 - Jaco Prinsloo 80 75, Jake Redman 77 78, Mark Williams 73 82, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 79 76, Gert Myburgh 79 76, Morne Buys 75 80, Keenan Davidse 79 76, Tyron McComb 78 77
156 - Pieter Kruger 80 76, Teboho Sefatsa 79 77, Kevin Rundle 80 76, Alex Haindl 74 82, PH McIntyre 76 80, Derick Petersen 79 77
157 - Drikus van der Walt 76 81, Jacquin Hess 81 76, Jeff Hopkins 77 80
158 - Greg Bentley 81 77, Nic Henning 82 76, Stefan Engell Andersen 81 77
159 - Siphiwe Siphayi 82 77
160 - CJ du Plessis 77 83
161 - Tyrone Mordt 75 86, Allan Versfeld 79 82
162 - Arthur Horne 86 76
164 - Zander Lombard 85 79
165 - Michiel Bothma 88 77, Brian Gondo 81 84
167 - Jason Viljoen 85 82
169 - Shane Granger 85 84
172 - Kayyam Rauf Mandhu 83 89
173 - Ruan Pretorius 81 92, Kangwine Chiluba 85 88
174 - Ruan Huysamen 88 86
WDN - Ulrich van den Berg 77 WDN
RTD - Ryan Tipping 76 RTD, Dayne Moore
