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Umhlanga - Peter Karmis acknowledged the possibility of defending the Sun Sibaya Challenge at Mount Edgecombe following his second round eight-under-par 68 score but maintained that while he holds a three-shot lead ahead of the final round, the competition is far from over.
"It's not over yet," Karmis was quick to point out.
"I played better today than yesterday and I'm pleased that I actually beat my score from yesterday. But tomorrow, obviously, I need to play one shot at a time because there’s a lot of guys around my score so I think tomorrow I need to play well to have a chance of winning."
He made a total of 10 birdies during the round, and in a season he admits is his best - having already won twice - Karmis credits an overall improvement to his game.
"I have been swinging well, putting well and my short game is improving as well," he said.
As the defending champion and playing the way he has played in the first two rounds of this R750 000 tournament, Karmis is well aware of the expectations but he refuses to think too much about that.
Instead, he would rather do the job on the golf course and let the results speak for themselves.
"I think extra stress," he said of the burden of confidence with which being a defending champion is associated.
"Obviously, there's a bit of expectation that one has to cast aside because it's difficult to play with expectations. So I try to put it out of my mind and just enjoy and just go one shot at a time."
He knows it will not be easy defending his title this week because while he leads by three shots, a host of players will be gunning for that top spot on Friday.
Keith Horne, who also shot four-under 68 on moving day to take the second spot on the leaderboard, has already won this season too and is aiming for nothing less than a win in what is probably his last tournament in South Africa this season.
"We would like to have a second win this season and we can’t put the foot off the petrol tomorrow," said Horne.
"It's always nice to be in contention and it's always nice to have an interesting final round which I think it will be tomorrow. So I will just try to shoot a low one and see what happens.
"I am travelling again after this one and not playing in South Africa, more than likely, this year. So it would be nice to sneak a second one in before I leave."
Indeed, it will be an interesting final round because chasing relentlessly and sharing third on 12-under is the duo of Oliver Bekker and Alex Haindl while Jared Harvey and Colin Nel take up the fifth spot on 11-under.
Six players share the seventh spot on 10-under ahead of the final round.
Scores:
129 - Peter Karmis 65 64
131 - Keith Horne 67 64
132 - Alex Haindl 66 66, Oliver Bekker 63 69
133 - Jared Harvey 67 66, Colin Nel 65 68
134 - Francois Coetzee 71 63, Neil Schietekat 68 66, Adilson Da Silva 65 69, Justin Harding 67 67, Chris Cannon 67 67, Herman Loubser 63 71
135 - Jaco Prinsloo 68 67, Jonathan Agren 67 68, JC Ritchie 70 65, Andre Nel 70 65, Vaughn Groenewald 68 67
136 - Martin Rominger 69 67, Jean Hugo 69 67, Stefan Engell Andersen 72 64, Dongkwan Kim 70 66, Jake Roos 69 67, Tyrone Ferreira 65 71
137 - Lindani Ndwandwe 69 68, Louis de Jager 68 69, Stephen Ferreira 70 67, Bryandrew Roelofsz 70 67, Jean-Paul Strydom 68 69, Matias Calderon 67 70
138 - Wynand Dingle 74 64, Irvin Mazibuko 68 70, Ulrich van den Berg 69 69, Daniel Greene 69 69, Anthony Michael 66 72, Matthew Carvell 70 68, Jacquin Hess 69 69, Ryan Cairns 69 69, Cody Martin 69 69
139 - Tyrone Ryan 69 70, Gert Myburgh 70 69, Jason Viljoen 72 67, Titch Moore 73 66
Missed the cut:
140 - Warren Abery 69 71, Bryce Easton 73 67, Matthew Spacey 70 70, Michael Hollick 72 68, Coert Groenewald 70 70, Rourke van der Spuy 71 69, Charl Coetzee 68 72
141 - Jeff Inglis 70 71, Morne Buys 69 72, CJ du Plessis 73 68, Allan Versfeld 70 71, Jason Diab 71 70, Andrew Curlewis 77 64, Thriston Lawrence 72 69
142 - Allister de Kock 70 72, Quintin Wilsnach 74 68, Divan Gerber 72 70, Greg Bentley 70 72, Jaco Mouton 72 70, Ryan Tipping 72 70, Aubrey Beckley 71 71, Keenan Davidse 70 72
143 - Jake Redman 77 66, Rhys West 71 72, Desne Van Den Bergh 74 69, Callum Mowat 73 70, Christiaan Basson 71 72, Steven Ferreira 73 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 74 69, Antonio Rosado 74 69
144 - Kevin Stone 72 72, Jason Froneman 70 74, Jacques Blaauw 72 72, Martin Rohwer 76 68, Michael Palmer 71 73, Marc Cayeux 69 75, Danie Van Niekerk 75 69, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 71 73, William Weidner 71 73, Combrinck Smit 74 70, Scott Campbell 71 73, Wallie Coetsee 71 73, Doug McGuigan 73 71, Lyle Rowe 74 70, MJ Viljoen 72 72, Andrew Georgiou 72 72, Neil O'Briain 73 71
145 - Omar Sandys 72 73, Stuart Smith 71 74
146 - JJ Senekal 70 76, Leorin Pillay 76 70, Andrew van der Knaap 75 71, Jason Smith 77 69
147 - Bryce Bibby 74 73, James Kamte 77 70, N.J. Arnoldi 76 71, Thanda Mavundla 76 71
148 - Dwayne Basson 75 73, Gerard du Plooy 73 75
149 - Bradford Vaughan 76 73, Ockie Strydom 79 70, PH McIntyre 77 72, Dayne Moore 74 75, Eugen Marugi 75 74
150 - Cameron Esau 75 75
151 - Chris Swanepoel 82 69, Teaghan Gauche 77 74, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 79 72, Daniel Hammond 77 74
153 - Mohit Mediratta 80 73
154 - Altaaf Bux 81 73, Gerrit Foster 78 76
156 - Nisharlan Sewshanker 76 80
159 - Johan van der Wath 82 77
165 - Shane Granger 86 79
RTD - Sean Bradley 71 RTD, Luke Jerling RTD RTD
