The experienced Neil Schietekat has put aside the disappointments of the previous season and will go into the final round of the FBC Zimbabwe Open at the Royal Harare Golf Club with a seven-stroke lead after he dominated the third round on Saturday with a six-under-par 66, the lowest round of the day.
The 39-year-old Schietekat has been a consistent contender on the Sunshine Tour for the last half-dozen seasons, but in 2022/23 he finished 47th in the Luna Order of Merit. The Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club representative put it down to the challenges of competing both at home and on the Asian Tour for the first time. But the new season has started in the best way possible with the fifth win of his Sunshine Tour career beckoning in Harare.
“It was my first year out in Asia and I was trying to juggle playing on both tours,” Schietekat said after his bogey-free round on Saturday. “But by the standards I have set myself, I wasn’t great on either tour and I just kept my Asian Tour card.
“I struggled with the travel, being away from home for five or six weeks in a row, with a time-difference of seven hours sometimes, which makes it difficult to chat to your family.
“I haven’t really changed anything in my game, I’ve just been working hard and I’m taking a bit of a break from playing in Asia, before heading out in a couple of weeks. It’s about giving myself a better schedule this year.
“So now I have a nice gap going into the final round and it will just be about sticking to my guns and keep playing the way I have been,” Schietekat said.
While Schietekat is lord of all he surveys at the top of the leaderboard on 14-under-par, his 66 being two strokes better than the next best round on Saturday, he modestly said he had made several lengthy putts for par to keep his momentum going.
“I’m pretty chuffed with my score because the wind was swirling and the greens quickened up and became quite crusty towards the end of the day. So it was great to keep bogeys off my card because that allowed me to keep the momentum going. I made a lot of clutch putts for par,” Schietekat said.
Last year’s South African Strokeplay Championship winner Jonathan Broomhead, in his first season in the professional big time, shot a marvellous three-under-par 69 to land himself in second place on seven-under, alongside first-round leader Wynand Dingle (71).
Second-round leader Adam Breen is in the tie for fourth on five-under, having hit tough times on Saturday as he shot a 76. The experienced duo of Jaco Ahlers and Peter Karmis both shot 71s to also finish on five-under, while Robson Chinhoi is the leading Zimbabwean golfer as his 68 lifted him into a share of seventh place with Trevor Fisher Jnr on four-under-par.
SCORES
202 – Neil Schietekat 67 69 66
209 – Jonathan Broomhead 71 69 69, Wynand Dingle 66 72 71
211 – Jaco Ahlers 71 69 71, Peter Karmis 67 73 71, Adam Breen 67 68 76
212 – Robson Chinhoi 70 74 68, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70 69 73
213 – Gerhard Pepler 74 71 68, Kieran Vincent 72 71 70, Quintin Wilsnach 70 73 70, Jacques P de Villiers 67 70 76
214 – Matthew Spacey 71 74 69, Stefan Wears-Taylor 75 68 71, Ryan Van Velzen 72 70 72, Lyle Rowe 71 69 74
215 – Danie Van Niekerk 75 69 71, Christiaan Burke 75 68 72
216 – Mutahi Kibugu 72 74 70, Luca Filippi 75 70 71, Rhys West 72 71 73, David Wicks 70 71 75, Ricky Hendler 69 71 76
217 – Martin Rohwer 73 73 71, James Mack 72 74 71, Fredrik From 72 73 72, Drikus Joubert 75 70 72, Callum Mowat 76 69 72, Ivan Verster 71 72 74, Biggie Chibvuri 71 72 74, Conner Mackenzie 69 74 74, Jean Hugo 73 70 74, Jared Harvey 73 69 75, Estiaan Conradie 73 69 75, Jovan Rebula 68 72 77
218 – Sean Cronje 77 68 73, Keegan Mclachlan 69 76 73, Gerhard Trytsman 75 69 74, Shaahid Mahmed 72 71 75, Stephen Ferreira 74 68 76, Sean Bradley 74 66 78
219 – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 72 75 72, Njoroge Kibugu 76 70 73, Nikhil Rama 77 69 73, Pride Sembo 72 73 74, Paul Boshoff 71 74 74, Yurav Premlall 74 68 77
220 – Anthony Michael 76 71 73, MJ Viljoen 74 72 74, Jacques Blaauw 70 75 75
221 – Kyle McClatchie 71 75 75, Franklin Manchest 73 73 75, Doug McGuigan 74 71 76, Kyle Barker 75 68 78
222 – Hayden Griffiths 75 72 75, Ryan Cairns 75 71 76, Warwick Purchase 70 75 77, Jack Hawksby 71 73 78, Stuart Krog 71 72 79
223 – Tonderayi Masunga 71 72 80
225 – Promise Sombrero 70 77 78, LB Boshoff 69 76 80
226 – Ignatius Mketekete 72 75 79, David Amm 74 73 79
227 – Tristin Galant 73 74 80
Missed the cut:-
148 – Mandla Dlamini Jnr 75 73, Jason Roets 74 74, Ruan Korb 73 75, Madalitso Muthiya 72 76, Sentanio Minnie 72 76, Michael Kok 72 76, Aneurin Gounden 71 77, Luke Brown 74 74, Martin Vorster 76 72, Robin Williams 74 74, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 77 71
149 – Tyron Davidowitz 75 74, Dylan Naidoo 75 74, Matthew Rushton 72 77, Heinrich Bruiners 75 74, Travis Ladner 74 75, Rasheed Mohamed 76 73, Albert Venter 73 76, Rupert Kaminski 77 72, TC Charamba 74 75, CJ du Plessis 77 72, Victor Kachepatsonga 75 74
150 – Greg Snow 74 76, Nyasha Muyambo 77 73, Sydney Joseph Wemba 78 72, Merrick Bremner 72 78, Jean-Paul Strydom 75 75
151 – Dayne Moore 74 77, Harry Konig 78 73, James Kamte 72 79, Chris Cannon 75 76
152 – Herman Loubser 80 72, Visitor Mapwanya 77 75, Philip Geerts 74 78, Erhard Lambrechts 78 74, Ethan Smith 74 78, Willie Olivier 74 78
153 – Paul Adam Chidale 78 75, Matthew Mortimer 74 79, James Pennington 79 74, Ronald Rugumayo 79 74, Teboho Sefatsa 78 75, Vaughn van Deventer 79 74
154 – Alex Haindl 77 77, Jake Redman 75 79, Neil Bothma 75 79, Brian Gondo 75 79
155 – Ben Firth 79 76, Francois van Staden 80 75, Jules Helary 80 75, Ryan Tipping 76 79, Tariro November 83 72, Keelan Africa 74 81, Gregory Mckay 77 78
156 – Michael Wallace 75 81, Phillip Tshuma 81 75, Robson Saurombe 77 79, Marvin Kibirige 76 80, Reinhardt Blaauw 76 80, Davison Elijah 70 86, Regan Steyn 79 77
157 – Ethan Kristiansen 76 81, Tanaka Chatora 79 78, Crismar Engelbrecht 79 78, Tatende Makunde 78 79, Mwalikwa Sondashi 76 81, Celestin Nsanzuwer 79 78, Jacquin Hess 77 80, DK Kim 76 81, Mathew Bramford 80 77
158 – Luke Trocado 81 77, Toto Thimba Jnr 75 83
159 – Peter Banda 79 80, Alphius Kelapile 79 80, Tafara Mpofu 75 84
161 – Simon Katembenuka 80 81
162 – Dezzie Ngandu 79 83, William Lake 82 80
163 – Mike Saxer 80 83
164 – Braydon Amm 77 87
165 – Raphael Jazi 83 82, Bradley Kulaisi 87 78
166 – Terrance Keith 84 82
168 – Simon Murungweni 84 84
169 – Connor Lashbrook 82 87, Shingi Shumba 84 85, Pranay Kapur 84 85
171 – Kwame Ligbidi 88 83
178 – Panashe Mukumba 89 89
RTD – Irvin Mazibuko 79 RTD
DSQ – Nicholaus Frade DSQ DSQ
Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour
