Keelan holds on to lead in SunBet Challenge

Keelan van Wyk made a few silly mistakes on the front nine at Gary Player Country Club on Thursday and paid the price, but the CMR Golf Club representative can feel immensely proud of the way he bounced back to retain the lead after the second round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City.

Despite going out in four-over-par 40, Van Wyk showed his temperament by rectifying most of the damage with four birdies and just a single bogey on the back nine, to sign for 73. The going was so tough at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday, however, that his one-over-par score was still enough for him to hang on to the lead. The 24-year-old will go into Saturday’s final round on four-under overall, one stroke ahead of Toto Thimba Jnr (72), Fredrik From (71), Jovan Rebula (69) and Matthew Spacey (72).

Van Wyk birdied the par-four first hole on Thursday, but that was followed by three successive bogeys. A double-bogey seven at the ninth then would have been enough, to paraphrase the words of the classic Boomtown Rats song I Don’t Like Mondays, to switch the silicon chip inside his head to overload were it not for Van Wyk’s impressive composure. He rebounded with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes, and was on his way back to the top of the leaderboard.

“I made a few mistakes on the front nine and it was just a very intense round of golf. I battled off the tee and on the ninth I went way left and lost my ball, leading to the double-bogey,” Van Wyk explained.

“But I just told myself that I had now hit my low and I could not go any lower. I just channelled my thoughts and my focus on spiralling back up again. I just tried to take it shot-for-shot and stay in the moment.

“My caddy Lloyd also helped a lot, he was quite composed. We were chatting about how the golf course is so difficult, it feels like if you make one mistake then you’re going to drop back a few places, but every player will make mistakes. You can see that from the scores,” Van Wyk said.

Adding to the typically testing set-up of the Gary Player Country Club, there was a swirling wind on Thursday that would con the golfers into thinking it was going one way, but then switch directions on the same hole.

“The course was tough and the wind was swirling as well. It was just never in one direction,” Van Wyk said.
Rebula led the charge of the domestic golfers on Thursday with a brilliant three-under 69 that included just one dropped shot, on the par-four 17th.

Spacey started his round on the 10th and made two birdies in his first four holes to claim the lead. But a bogey on the 15th and another one on the seventh hole saw him slip back, while Thimba Jnr survived three successive bogeys from the eighth hole to still post a level-par 72 and remain strongly in contention.

Sweden’s From was the leading overseas golfer, mixing six birdies with five bogeys in his round.
Three more South Africans, Jonathan Broomhead (70), Michael Hollick (70) and Kyle Barker (72) are two strokes back on two-under-par.

SCORES:
140 – Keelan van Wyk 67 73
141 – Toto Thimba Jnr 69 72, Fredrik From 70 71, Jovan Rebula 72 69, Matthew Spacey 69 72
142 – Jonathan Broomhead 72 70, Michael Hollick 72 70, Kyle Barker 70 72
143 – Sean Bradley 73 70, Hennie Otto 71 72, Robin Williams 69 74, Ruan Korb 72 71, Herman Loubser 72 71, Darren Fichardt 73 70
144 – CJ du Plessis 73 71, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 73, Hennie O’Kennedy 73 71, Hayden Griffiths 73 71, Martin Rohwer 72 72, Jaco Ahlers 71 73
145 – Louis Albertse 72 73, David Wicks 72 73, Rourke van der Spuy 72 73, Ryan Van Velzen 73 72, Estiaan Conradie 72 73, Dan Erickson 72 73, Hunter Epson 74 71, Christiaan Basson 73 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 74
146 – Ulrich van den Berg 73 73, Jason Smith 69 77, Luca Filippi 73 73, Richard Joubert 72 74, MJ Viljoen 72 74, Michael Kok 73 73, Doug McGuigan 73 73, Wynand Dingle 74 72, Quintin Wilsnach 75 71
147 – DK Kim 72 75, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 75 72, Heinrich Bruiners 74 73, Lyle Rowe 72 75, Neil Schietekat 75 72, Keagan Thomas 76 71, Jean Hugo 71 76, Ruan de Smidt 73 74, Rhys West 72 75, Stefan Wears-Taylor 78 69, Peter Karmis 71 76, Keelan Africa 73 74
Missed the cut:-
148 – Jacques Blaauw 73 75, Robson Chinhoi 75 73, Luke Brown 76 72, Brandon Smith 71 77, Aneurin Gounden 74 74, Jacques P de Villiers 74 74, Clancy Waugh 77 71, Franklin Manchest 78 70, Steve Surry 71 77, Yurav Premlall 75 73, Gerhard Pepler 75 73
149 – Jared Harvey 78 71, Rupert Kaminski 72 77, Merrick Bremner 70 79, Nicholaus Frade 76 73, Lindani Ndwandwe 74 75, Riekus Nortje 80 69, Trevor Fisher Jnr 75 74
150 – Allister de Kock 73 77, James Mack 72 78, Malcolm Mitchell 74 76, Erhard Lambrechts 72 78, Jastice Mashego 74 76, Tyron Davidowitz 75 75
151 – Leon Visser 74 77, Callum Mowat 75 76, Jake Redman 76 75, Sentanio Minnie 74 77
152 – Adam Breen 76 76, Dylan Naidoo 76 76, Jaco Van Zyl 74 78
153 – Nikhil Rama 75 78, Adriel Poonan 81 72, Christiaan Burke 74 79, Kyle McClatchie 77 76
154 – Irvin Mazibuko 77 77, Danie Van Niekerk 77 77, Madalitso Muthiya 78 76, Gregory Mckay 82 72
155 – Wade Jacobs 77 78, Siyanda Mwandla 78 77, Stuart Krog 77 78
156 – Reinhardt Blaauw 77 79, Alex Haindl 80 76
157 – Makhetha Mazibuko 80 77, Combrinck Smit 82 75, Gerhard Trytsman 78 79
158 – Vaughn van Deventer 82 76, Jack Hawksby 78 80
159 – Gerard du Plooy 78 81
160 – Alphius Kelapile 81 79
161 – Tristin Galant 76 85, Slenda Sithebe 79 82
162 – Drikus Joubert 81 81
163 – Ricky Hendler 81 82
167 – Omar Sandys 81 86
WDN – Chris Cannon 82 WDN
RTD – Gerard Moodley 80 RTD, Thabang Simon 78 RTD