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Mbabane - CJ du Plessis carded a seven-under-par 65 in round two of the Lombard Insurance Classic at Royal Swazi Spa Country Club to remain one clear of Anthony Michael heading into the final round.
Du Plessis’ round included seven birdies and an eagle at the par-five fifth hole, and he only needed 25 putts on the day.
“I played pretty much the same golf as yesterday. I’ve hit two bad shots in the 36 holes and they were both on the same hole, so I had a double-bogey on the 18th, but other than that I’ve played really well,” he said.
“I made a nice eagle on five and missed a couple short ones on seven and nine , but I mean you can’t make them all and I’m happy with where I am and where the game is at and hopefully we can have another low one tomorrow,” he added.
At 16-under-par for the tournament, du Plessis says he aims to make it to 23-under-par by the end of play tomorrow, as he has set himself some interesting goals for the week.
“I’ve got a goal in mind for the end of the week. That helps to keep chasing the main goal instead of trying to figure out what’s going to lead at the end of the day. I’m trying to get a birdie count of 25 for the week. So I’m on 18 and need seven more birdies tomorrow. If I can make 25 birdies without too many mistakes I’m sure I’ll be up there,” he explained.
Madalitso Muthiya equaled du Plessis’ opening round of nine-under-par 63, which shot him up the leaderboard into fourth place on 11-under-par alongside Jaco Prinsloo, and both Muthiya and du Plessis think the magical 59 is out there for the taking.
"Both days I could have shot 59. That got to my head. You know when you’re really hitting it well and wedging it well and putting well, around here you can really shoot low,” said du Plessis.
“It’s been done here before hasn’t it? I think it was Peter Karmis who shot 59 and won by one or two shots. I think somebody can, but again you have to get a little bit lucky and get a few eagles here and there and make a bunch of birdies,” said Muthiya.
Sitting just one stroke back - like du Plessis - Michael had seven birdies and an eagle, but dropped shots on 16 and 17.
“It was the same game plan as yesterday. I hit the ball well
again today, it was just those blemishes on 16 and 17 that kind of put a little
damper on the score, but in the end but I’m still happy with where we stand
now,” explained Michael.
Jared Harvey sits in sole possession of third place on 12-under-par,
with Merrick Bremner and Rhys West two strokes further back
on 10-under-par, making up the top five.
Scores:
-16 - CJ du Plessis (RSA) 63 65
-15 - Anthony Michael (RSA) 64 65
-12 - Jared Harvey (RSA) 64 68
-11 - Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 70 63
-10 - Merrick Bremner (RSA) 68 66, Rhys West
(RSA) 68 66, Jaco Prinsloo (RSA) 65 69
-9 - Hennie du Plessis (RSA) 68 67, Keith Horne
(RSA) 64 71, Chris Swanepoel (RSA) 68 67
-8 - Jbe' Kruger (RSA) 69 67
-7 - Jason Viljoen (RSA) 70 67, Callum Mowat
(RSA) 65 72, Vaughn Groenewald (RSA) 66 71, Bryce Easton
(RSA) 70 67, Steven Ferreira (RSA) 67 70, Louis de Jager
(RSA) 67 70, Titch Moore (RSA) 67 70, Lyle Rowe
(RSA) 69 68, Heinrich Bruiners (RSA) 70 67
6 - Thanda Mavundla (RSA) 72 66, Oliver Bekker
(RSA) 65 73, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 69 69, Andrew Georgiou
(CYP) 69 69, Keenan Davidse (RSA) 68 70,Danie van Tonder
(RSA) 64 74, Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA) 67 (-1) [15]
-5 - Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA) 69 70, Ockie Strydom (RSA) 66 73, Jake Redman (RSA) 72 67, Bryce Bibby (RSA) 66 73, Divan van den Heever (RSA) 69 70,Rourke van der Spuy (RSA) 68 71, Justin Harding (RSA) 71 68, Ruan de Smidt (RSA) 69 70, Tyrone Ferreira (RSA) 69 70
-4 - Theunis Spangenberg (RSA) 68 72, Jaco Ahlers
(RSA) 70 70, Jean-Paul Strydom (RSA) 68 72, Daniel Greene
(RSA) 70 70, Christiaan Basson (RSA) 72 68,Andrew Curlewis
(RSA) 67 73, James Kamte (RSA) 68 72
-3 - Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 67 74, Tyrone Mordt (RSA) 71 70, Andre de Decker (RSA) 70 71, Alexander Knappe (GER) 70 71, Gert Myburgh (RSA) 73 68, Jeff Hopkins (IRL) 71 70,Allan Versfeld (RSA) 70 71, JC Ritchie (RSA) 71 (-2) [15]
Missed the cut:
-2 - Stuart Smith (BOT) 75
67, Neil Schietekat (RSA) 72 70, Doug McGuigan (SCO) 70
72, Wallie Coetsee (RSA) 71 71
-1 - Pieter Kruger (RSA) 73 70, Charl Coetzee
(RSA) 71 72, JJ Senekal (RSA) 72 71, Toto Thimba
(Jnr) 68 75, Teaghan Gauche (RSA) 71 72, Omar Sandys
(RSA) 70 73,Ryan Tipping (RSA) 72 71, Alex Haindl (RSA) 69
74, Grant Veenstra (RSA) 70 73, Michael Hollick (RSA) 72 71
Par - Francois Coetzee (RSA) 72 72, Colin Nel
(RSA) 73 71
+1 - Le Roux Ferreira (RSA) 73 72, Grant Muller
(RSA) 70 75, Mark Murless (RSA) 73 72, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu
(ZIM) 76 69
+2 - Teboho Sefatsa (RSA) 69 77, Matthew Carvell
(RSA) 71 75
+3 - Mark Williams (ZIM) 73 74, Breyten Meyer
(RSA) 73 74, Morne Buys (RSA) 73 74, PH McIntyre
(RSA) 73 74
+4 - Gideon Pienaar (RSA) 77 71, Warren Abery
(RSA) 75 73
+5 - Etienne Bond (RSA) 77 72, MJ Viljoen
(RSA) 76 73, Arthur Horne (SWZ) 74 75
+6 - James Kingston (RSA) 73 77
+8 - Dwayne Basson (RSA) 75 77
