Sipho Bujela made the most of the favourable scoring conditions at Observatory Golf Club, firing a brilliant seven-under 65 to jump into first place.
‘I started off well. First hole I went birdie, second hole I went birdie and that just set me up. I picked up a few more birdies and went into the 17th eight-under. I was in the middle of the fairway in-between clubs and I ended up finding the back of the green, chipped in nicely to four-foot but missed the putt,’ he said after his round.
With the 2017/18 Vusi Ngubeni Q-School being played over Modderfontein and Observatory Golf Clubs, Bujela knew he had to come out guns blazing at the more favourable layout.
‘If you look at the scores from yesterday, the leading guy, Gerard, shot 64 here yesterday. It shows that guys will go lower on this course compared to Modder. You hit a lot of short irons here and you can go really low,’ explained Bujela.
Gerard du Plooy, the round one leader after a 64 at Observatory, carded a two-over 74 to share second place with journeyman Omar Sandys on 6-under for the week.
Sharing second spot alongside Sandys, Du Plooy is still firmly in the mix with two days to go and the, the 27-year-old is still confident about his game.
‘Today was a tough round for me. I broke my three-wood on the first tee so had to play the whole day without it. I’ll take 74 and I think today was character building for me. I finished birdie-birdie so that’ll set me up for the week,’ said Du Plooy.
Now that the cut has been made, the last two days will be played solely at Modderfontein Golf Club and Bujela couldn’t be happier.
‘I love Modder and I’m a member there. I’ve played the course a lot and it is challenging. To go low you need to be really good off the tee, you need to be hitting your irons well and the greens are tricky too. There is still a lot of golf to be played but I’m in a good position and I’m looking forward to the next two rounds,’ he said.
From sunshinetour.com
SCORES:
136 – Sipho Bujela 71 65
138 – Omar Sandys 67 71, Gerard du Plooy 64 74
139 – Makhetha Mazibuko 72 67
141 – Heinrich Bruiners 72 69, Teboho Sefatsa 69 72
142 – Jabulane Mabilane 71 71
