Sun City - His driver deserted him, but George Coetzee managed to card a one-under-par 71 on Saturday at the Lost City course at Sun City to take a two-stroke lead at the 54-hole mark of the Investec Cup.
He kept his edge in the Chase to the Investec, which means projections have him taking the winner’s share of the R10m Bonus Pool - as long as he stays ahead of the chasing pack led by Jbe’ Kruger, who fired a superb seven-under-par 65 to trail Coetzee by two.
The players in the R1m tournament are also the 30 leading players in a year-long quest for points to compete in the tournament and for the Bonus Pool, and, for many of them, it’s a chance at a huge payday - and Coetzee is one of a few left who can pull off the R3.5m winner’s share.
“I just didn’t drive it well all day,” said Coetzee, who made two bogeys, both from poor tee shots. “Luckily on this course, you’re able to play some three-woods and two-irons off tees, so I did that quite a bit today.”
Scores:
209 - George Coetzee (RSA) 68 70 71
211 - Jbe' Kruger (RSA) 75 71 65
212 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 68 74 70
213 - Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 72 73 68, Tjaart van der Walt (RSA) 73 71 69, Chris Swanepoel (RSA) 73 71 69, Jaco van Zyl (RSA) 73 67 73
214 - Shaun Norris (RSA) 71 73 70
215 - Keith Horne (RSA) 72 73 70, Jean Hugo (RSA) 72 71 72, Justin Harding (RSA) 71 71 73
216 - Jacques Blaauw (RSA) 79 70 67, Christiaan Basson (RSA) 75 71 70
217 - Dean Burmester (RSA) 72 71 74
218 - Danie van Tonder (RSA) 75 71 72
219 - Oliver Bekker (RSA) 76 78 65
220 - Ulrich van den Berg (RSA) 73 71 76
221 - Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA) 78 73 70, Wallie Coetsee (RSA) 75 73 73, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 74 69 78
222 - Rhys West (RSA) 75 75 72
223 - Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 80 76 67, Louis de Jager (RSA) 78 72 73
224 - Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) 74 79 71, Jared Harvey (RSA) 79 70 75
226 - Neil Schietekat (RSA) 79 77 70, Merrick Bremner (RSA) 80 70 76, Haydn Porteous (RSA) 73 77 76
227 - Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 77 73 77
231 - Titch Moore (RSA) 77 75 79