Playing golf in South Africa’s northern-most province seems to agree with Heinrich Bruiners as he will go into the final round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Zebula Country Club in pole position to claim his second Sunshine Tour title, 10 years after his first victory also came in Limpopo.
Bruiners completed back-to-back 67s on Saturday to post a 10-under-par total after two rounds, and he will take a one-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. His previous victory was also in the Vodacom Origins of Golf series, in the 2013 event played at nearby Euphoria Golf Estate in Mookgophong.
“I don’t know if it’s something in the air or being in the bush, but my first top-five was also in Limpopo and I was in the top-three after two rounds of a Challenge Tour event up here as well, but unfortunately I was sick over the weekend.
“So it will be really nice to get over the line again having had 10 years to grow and mature as a person. Technically I’m in a much better space having changed equipment ahead of this tournament and feeling more comfortable with a more natural ball-flight. I felt like I was fighting my natural ball-flight before.
“And mentally I feel ready as well. I know everyone is going to come hard in the final round and level-par is not going to be good enough, so I will just stay positive and use a gameplan that gives me lots of opportunities. But I will be quite happy just to take it all in. I’m quite comfortable with whatever the outcome will be,” Bruiners said.
For the second day in succession, Bruiners was sublime over the back nine, where he started his round on Saturday. Having come home in 32 strokes in the first round, he went one better in the second round by going out in 31 with birdies on the 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th and 18th holes.
On Saturday the 35-year-old came home in level-par, with three bogies cancelling out three birdies on the front nine.
There are four golfers just one stroke behind Bruiners. Jason Smith, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Pieter Moolman all fired 65s on Saturday to climb to nine-under-par for the tournament, alongside 26-year-old Jovan Rebula who signed for a 68.
Then three other golfers – Jacques Kruiswijk, Neil Schietekat and Gerhard Pepler – are on eight-under-par, having all shot 68s on Saturday.
With the presence of Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals competing with the men in the same tournament for the same prizemoney for the first time in Sunshine Tour history, Cara Gorlei is still the leading women’s golfer. She slipped down the leaderboard, however, in the second round, with her 74 taking her from tied-second to tied-31st on three-under.
Scores:
134 – Heinrich Bruiners 67 67
135 – Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 65, Pieter Moolman 70 65, Jovan Rebula 67 68, Jason Smith 70 65
136 – Neil Schietekat 68 68, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 68, Gerhard Pepler 68 68
137 – Lyle Rowe 68 69, LB Boshoff 70 67, Jonathan Broomhead 66 71
138 – Keelan van Wyk 68 70, Kyle Barker 69 69, James Hart du Preez 72 66, Ricky Hendler 68 70
139 – Hunter Epson 66 73, Madalitso Muthiya 68 71, Jean Hugo 70 69, Daniel van Tonder 74 65, Nikhil Rama 69 70, Jake Roos 70 69, James Mack 70 69, Jack Hawksby 69 70, Luca Filippi 69 70, Robin Williams 72 67, Christiaan Basson 72 67
140 – Ryan Van Velzen 68 72, Adam Breen 70 70, Keegan Mclachlan 74 66, Dylan Naidoo 70 70
141 – Jared Harvey 70 71, Hennie Otto 72 69, Cara Gorlei 67 74, Kieron van Wyk 69 72, Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 73, Yurav Premlall 71 70, Dan Erickson 71 70, Jason Roets 74 67, Franklin Manchest 74 67, Louis Albertse 71 70, Francois Van der Walt 70 71
142 – Sean Bradley 70 72, Peter Karmis 71 71, Robson Chinhoi 73 69, Quintin Wilsnach 72 70, Reinhardt Blaauw 71 71, Rourke van der Spuy 72 70, Estiaan Conradie 66 76, Vaughn van Deventer 70 72
143 – DK Kim 73 70, Chris Cannon 71 72, Gerhard Trytsman 72 71, Merrick Bremner 74 69, Luke Brown 70 73, Toto Thimba Jnr 70 73, Albert Venter 73 70, David Wicks 72 71, Gerard du Plooy 73 70, Aneurin Gounden 68 75, Combrinck Smit 75 68, Anthony Michael 72 71, Kyle McClatchie 71 72
Missed the cut:-
144 – Riekus Nortje 70 74, Jacques Blaauw 72 72, Wynand Dingle 69 75, Wade Jacobs 69 75, Luke Jerling 72 72, Richard Joubert 72 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 74 70, Jonathan Waschefort 73 71
145 – Jaco Van Zyl 75 70, Rupert Kaminski 72 73, Tyron Davidowitz 73 72, Allister de Kock 79 66, Michael Kok 72 73, Erhard Lambrechts 70 75, Tumelo Molloyi 73 72, Hennie O’Kennedy 73 72, Clancy Waugh 74 71
146 – Martin Rohwer 71 75, Karabo Mokoena 70 76, Callum Mowat 76 70, Keagan Thomas 71 75
147 – Dylan Mostert 76 71, Thabang Simon 73 74, Malcolm Mitchell 74 73, Ruan Conradie 74 73, Sentanio Minnie 74 73, Brandon Smith 72 75, Danie Van Niekerk 75 72, Leon Visser 74 73
148 – Conner Mackenzie 74 74, Fredrik From 75 73, Ruan Korb 69 79, Stuart Krog 73 75, Willie Olivier 71 77, Ulrich van den Berg 75 73
149 – Sean Cronje 77 72, Tristen Strydom 75 74, Jacques P de Villiers 73 76, CJ du Plessis 73 76, Jastice Mashego 75 74
150 – Adriel Poonan 74 76, Deon Germishuys 75 75, Alphius Kelapile 78 72, Ethan Smith 78 72, Luke Trocado 74 76
151 – Gregory Mckay 78 73, Jordan Duminy 72 79
152 – Brittney-Fay Berger 78 74, Nicholaus Frade 78 74, Makhetha Mazibuko 82 70, Siyanda Mwandla 78 74, James Pennington 75 77, Nadia van der Westhuizen 75 77, Rhys West 76 76
153 – Larissa Du Preez 78 75, Tristin Galant 75 78, Drikus Joubert 75 78, Ryan Tipping 79 74
154 – Ruan de Smidt 78 76
155 – Marcel Steyn Scholtz 77 78, Tandi McCallum 78 77
158 – Irvin Mazibuko 77 81
159 – Slenda Sithebe 80 79
171 – Christiaan Burke 87 84
