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Thimba wins Houghton event

Johannesburg - Toto Thimba Jnr shot a 67 on the second day to win the Houghton, Johannesburg, tournament of the Sunshine Big Easy Tour on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old reached 11-under-par, finishing the R100 000 event one stroke clear of Ross Wellington, who charged to 10-under with a second-round 64, breaking the course record.

"I was in the zone. I didn't care about the scores or anything. I just knew that I had to make birdies," Thimba said.

"I think good things come to those who wait, and I have waited for years. This win came at the right time and the right place."

The Silver Lakes Country Club professional said he knew he was in with a shout when he reached the 18th green.

"On 18 I was nervous because yesterday I didn't hit it great with my driver. Today I took my three-wood and hit it perfectly."

Thimba felt the victory was a long time coming.

"This feels fantastic, it just brings a lot of confidence and I feel like I can win any tournament," he said.

Wellington finished his second round with a bogey at the 18th hole, putting a damper on his record-breaking round.

Mark Williams, Ruan de Smidt and amateur Musiwalo Nethunzwi shared third at six-under par.

Williams finished last year's Houghton tournament tied for second, and once again showed how much he enjoyed the event with a second-round 67.

De Smidt, who is fifth in the Sunshine Tour Rookie of the Year race, also excelled during the second round, carding 68 to claim his share of third.

However, Nethunzwi was the real surprise of the tournament, he shot rounds of 68 and 70.

Scores: (RSA unless otherwise specified)

133         Toto Thimba (Jnr) 66, 67
134         Ross Wellington 70, 64
138         Mark Williams 71, 67, Ruan de Smidt 70, 68, Musiwalo Nethunzwi (AMA) 68, 70
139         Chris Williams 69, 70, Wynand Dingle 67, 72
140         Divan Gerber 71, 69
141         Teboho Sefatsa                69, 72
142         Johan Bekker 71, 71, Brandon Stone (AMA) 68, 74
143         Thomas Lovett 72, 71, Brett Liddle 71, 72, Ryan Thompson 70, 73, Morne Buys 70, 73, Anthony Michael 70, 73, Michael du Toit                 67, 76
144         Steven Ferreira 74, 70, Thabo Maseko, 71, 73, Drikus van der Walt, 71, 73, Callie Swart, 70, 74, Martin du Toit 69, 75, Tyrone Ryan 69, 75
145         Adrian Ford 74, 71, Pieter Moolman 75, 70
146         Patrick Spindler 73, 73
147         Thabang Simon                 74, 73, Graham van der Merwe                 74, 73, Michael Hollick 74, 73, Derick Petersen 76, 71, Louis Calitz 76, 71, Garry Hill 72, 75
148         Riekus Nortje 74, 74, Grant Veenstra 75, 73, Danie van Tonder 74, 74, Yubin Jung 73, 75, Micky Hough (ZIM) 73, 75, Conway Kunneke (AMA) 73, 75, Daniel Hammond 76, 72, Alpheus Kelapile 72, 76, Dean Burmester 77, 71, David Ryan 71, 77
149         Lean Boezaart 74, 75, Jake Redman 73, 76, Thanda Mavundla 72, 77, Henk Alberts 72, 77, Coenie Stoop 70, 79
150         Attie Schwartzel 76, 74, PG van Zyl 76, 74, Ashley Roestoff 76, 74, Makgetha Mazibuko 72, 78, Vickesh Singh 70, 80
151         Trevor Mahoney 76, 75, Louis Moolman 73, 78, Zwelakhe Dube 73, 78, Ryan Hood 71, 80, Francois Coetzee 77, 74, Wandile Gininda 78, 73
152         Brendan de Lange 73, 79, Roberto Lupini 77, 75, Jared Harvey 77, 75, Mikhail Tewary 77, 75, Jeff Inglis (ENG) 77, 75, Juan Langeveld 82, 70
153         Andre van Zyl 74, 79, Irvin Mazibuko 75,                78, Willie Steyn                 74, 79, Derik Ferreira 76, 77, John Bele 79, 74
154         Heinrich Bruiners 77, 77, Michael McGrady 77, 77, Zuko Sangqu 77, 77, Neo Thubisi 78, 76
155         Mark Fensham 76, 79, Langley Perrins 77, 78
156         Walter Els 76, 80, Richard Kaplan 76, 80, Stuart Smith (BOT) 77, 79
158         Matthew Rottanburg 83, 75
159         Coenie Bester 77, 82, Michael Dreyer 80, 79, Albert Tsai 82, 77, Steven van Heerden 83, 76
160         Dayne Moore (ZAM) 77, 83, Cameron Esau 78, 82
161         Rocky Tlhabanyane 78, 83
162         Nathan Waghorn 79, 83
163         Sammy Daniels 85, 78
168         SV Nhlapho 85, 83
172         Elvis Sithebe 84, 88
179         Marks Bodibe 83, 96
RTD        Kenneth Dube
RTD        Nic Henning
DSQ       Warren Holland

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