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Port Edward – Ruan de Smidt fired his second successive six-under-par 64 to move to within one shot of the lead on Thursday in the R700,000 Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge.
He trails first-round leader Jaco Ahlers who carded a four-under 66 to go with his opening 61, while Stephen Ferreira of Portugal and South Africans Danie van Tonder and Erik van Rooyen are a further stroke back in a share of third – Van Rooyen on the back of the low round of the day, an eight-under 62.
For De Smidt, who had his maiden win in 2012, and followed it with a second victory in November last year, it was about holding things together and trying to keep a bad round from sinking his chances of a third victory on the Sunshine Tour. “Most of the tournaments, I’ve had one bad round, but the rest has been pretty good,” he said.
“Last week, the first round was bad and then it was good from there. So I hope this week I can get three decent rounds in. I’ve played nicely over the last two days. I made a couple of putts finally – 30 putts today, and I hit it really well. It’s been building lately,” he added.
He made three birdies and a bogey on his opening nine, and repeated the dose coming home – except the addition of an eagle to the mix saw him close the gap on Ahlers.
For the man in the lead, it is also a question of minimising the damage caused by a bad round. “Lately, I’ve been having one not-so-great round, and if this is my bad round, I couldn’t ask for more,” said Ahlers.
He started his round with a bogey on the first and, although he regained that shot with a birdie on four, a double bogey on five put him on his heels. “Today wasn’t that good. My ball-striking wasn’t as good as yesterday. It just happens. We all have an off day at times,” he said.
He followed that error with three consecutive birdies and his round was back on track. “I’d like to finish it off tomorrow. There’s a lot of golf to play, but I’d like to strike it a bit better, with a bit more control,” he said.
De Smidt is also looking to close it out. “My confidence levels are pretty good for the final round,” he said. “I just need to try and do the same as I’ve been doing for the last two days and another 64 would be awesome.”
Scores:
127 - Jaco Ahlers 61 66
128 - Ruan de Smidt 64 64
129 - Erik van Rooyen 67 62, Stephen Ferreira 65 64, Danie van Tonder 62 67
131 - Doug McGuigan 63 68
132 - Madalitso Muthiya 64 68
133 - Jacques Kruyswijk 67 66, Mark Murless 66 67
134 - Neil Schietekat 67 67, Rourke van der Spuy 70 64, Ryan Tipping 67 67, Jonathan Agren 67 67
135 - Wallie Coetsee 64 71, Jacques Blaauw 68 67
136 - Morne Buys 66 70, Derick Petersen 68 68, Louis de Jager 69 67, Keenan Davidse 70 66
137 - Christiaan Basson 66 71, Callum Mowat 68 69
138 - Allister de Kock 69 69, JC Ritchie 68 70, Alex Haindl 67 71, Merrick Bremner 69 69, Greg Bentley 70 68, Titch Moore 69 69, Oliver Bekker 65 73, Keith Horne 69 69, Jared Harvey 68 70, Tyrone Ferreira 68 70, Russel Franz 70 68
139 - Ryan Cairns 70 69, Jaco Prinsloo 74 65, Warren Abery 69 70, Divan Gerber 67 72, Andrew Curlewis 73 66, Hennie du Plessis 69 70, Bryce Bibby 71 68
140 - Jeff Hopkins 68 72, Rhys West 69 71, Divan van den Heever 69 71, Mark Williams 68 72, Theunis Spangenberg 69 71, Kevin Rundle 71 69, Tyrone Ryan 70 70
Missed the cut:
141 - Ockie Strydom 69 72, PH McIntyre 73 68, Heinrich Bruiners 70 71, Charl Coetzee 75 66
142 - Jake Redman 72 70, JJ Senekal 74 68, Chris Swanepoel 73 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 74, Bryn Flanagan 72 70, Allan Versfeld 71 71, Gideon Pienaar 70 72, Gert Myburgh 68 74, Toto Thimba 70 72, Le Roux Ferreira 70 72
143 - Anthony Michael 74 69, Lindani Ndwandwe 76 67, Breyten Meyer 75 68, Calvin Pearson 72 71, MJ Viljoen 73 70, Henry Featherstone 70 73, Vaughn Groenewald 74 69, CJ du Plessis 69 74, Pieter Kruger 68 75, Arthur Horne 69 74, Jacquin Hess 72 71
144 - Etienne Bond 71 73, Colin Nel 73 71, Drikus van der Walt 70 74, Trevor Mahoney 73 71, Stuart Smith 69 75, Stefan Engell Andersen 72 72
145 - Jason Froneman 69 76, Steven Ferreira 75 70
146 - Ruan Pretorius 70 76, Andre Cruse 72 74, Teaghan Gauche 77 69, Justin Harding 69 77, Jason Diab 70 76, Matthew Carvell 73 73, Altaaf Bux 76 70
147 - Thanda Mavundla 71 76, Brett Liddle 74 73
148 - Wynand Dingle 73 75
149 - Jason Viljoen 74 75, Lyle Rowe 76 73, Neal Herman 75 74, Tyron McComb 80 69, Mikhail Tewary 72 77
150 - Antonio Rosado 75 75
151 - Joe Nawanga 76 75, Dayne Moore 77 74, Kayyam Rauf Mandhu 74 77
153 - Teboho Sefatsa 73 80, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 79 74
155 - Shane Granger 77 78
158 - Michael Green 76 82
159 - Joe Dludlu 84 75, Jesse Verster 81 78
161 - Nisharlan Sewshanker 76 85
