As the wind picked up on Thursday, the smile on Wallie Coetsee’s face got progressively broader. And he had statistical confirmation of his pleasure with a one-stroke lead after the second round of the R750,000 Sun Fish River Sun Challenge.
He went round the Fish River Sun Country Club course in six-under-par 66 to move to 10-under for the tournament after 36 holes, and he holds a slim advantage over Sweden’s Jonathan Agren, who carded a five-under 67 to be nine-under going into tomorrow’s final round.
With solid showings in the wind in the last two Sunshine Tour events, after a run of three consecutive missed cuts, Coetsee is glad to be back. ‘It’s nice to be up there again,’ he said. ‘The game always goes up and down, but we learn through our mistakes. It’s important not to get down on yourself.’
He started his round on the 10th and was quickly into his work with a birdie on the 11th. Two more came before the turn at 12 and 16, before he made his only bogey of the day when he three-putted from inside 10 feet.
But there was a run of three consecutive birdies from three to five to compensate for that dropped shot, and one more for good measure on his closing ninth.
‘You need to just be patient and keep the swing slow,’ he said of his game. ‘In wind like this, the rhythm of your swing is very important, and you don’t touch your wedge and nine-iron much, because you try to keep it low into the wind. You play a lot with six, seven and eight, even from 100 metres in. Into the wind it’s a knock-down seven or a very soft six.
‘I love it playing in the wind. You’ve got to think all the time. It’s not just bomb it. You’ve got to keep it low, slide it, draw it into the wind. It makes golf so much more enjoyable because you think all the time.’
Besides his shot-making in the wind, he has his putting to thank for the lead.
‘I fired my old putter,’ he said of the vintage putter he was using during the run of missed cuts.
‘I got a new putter about three weeks ago and it’s starting to work nicely. I think I had 25 putts with a chip-in and a three-putt.
‘I’m trying to make all the putts I can make. I still miss a few, but I think of the ones I do make and focus on those.’
With Coetsee relishing the conditions, he is going to be a tough nut to crack in the final round.
‘I hope the wind blows a bit tomorrow, and let the other guys hit it a little bit higher than me,’ he grinned.
‘Let’s see if I can throw another 66 in there tomorrow and maybe I can win this thing.’
Second round leaderboard:
134 – Wallie Coetsee 68 66
135 – Jonathan Agren 68 67
136 – Titch Moore 69 67, Merrick Bremner 69 67
137 – Neil Schietekat 68 69, Justin Harding 68 69, Omar Sandys 68 69, Matias Calderon 69 68
138 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout 69 69, Andrew Curlewis 71 67, MJ Viljoen 69 69
139 – JJ Senekal 69 70, Andre Nel 72 67, Colin Nel 69 70, Ryan Tipping 72 67
140 – Doug McGuigan 69 71, Mark Williams 70 70, Vaughn Groenewald 69 71, Chris Swanepoel 69 71, Ulrich van den Berg 68 72, Tyrone Ferreira 71 69, Scott Campbell 70 70, Jaco Prinsloo 68 72, Breyten Meyer 68 72
141 – Chris Cannon 70 71
142 – Zack Byrd 69 73, Jake Redman 70 72, Antonio Rosado 70 72
143 – Jared Harvey 71 72, Lyle Rowe 70 73, Ruan de Smidt 71 72, Desne Van Den Bergh 72 71, Jean-Paul Strydom 68 75, Bryandrew Roelofsz 70 73, Ruan Huysamen 68 75, Jason Smith 70 73, Martin Rohwer 72 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 72 71, Andre De Decker 66 77, James Kamte 71 72
Missed the cut:-
144 – Christiaan Basson 71 73, Damon Stephenson 75 69, Sean Bradley 77 67, Irvin Mazibuko 74 70, Herman Loubser 73 71
145 – Riekus Nortje 73 72, Rourke van der Spuy 70 75, Luke Jerling 69 76, Dayne Moore 72 73, Stefan Engell Andersen 72 73
146 – CJ du Plessis 70 76, Heinrich Bruiners 73 73
147 – Michael Hollick 71 76, Andrew van der Knaap 74 73, Allister de Kock 75 72, Steven Ferreira 75 72
148 – Oliver Bekker 71 77, Danie Van Niekerk 72 76, Stephen Ferreira 69 79, Theunis Spangenberg 75 73
149 – Dongkwan Kim 77 72, Jacques P de Villiers 76 73, Thanda Mavundla 76 73, Kyle Pilgrim 73 76, Sipho Bujela 74 75, Combrinck Smit 72 77
150 – JC Ritchie 74 76, Duane Keun 76 74
151 – Jaco Mouton 74 77, Gerard du Plooy 76 75, Gert Myburgh 72 79
152 – Jacquin Hess 76 76, Matthew Spacey 75 77, Jason Viljoen 73 79
154 – Jason Froneman 80 74
155 – Makhetha Mazibuko 74 81
156 – Jason Diab 76 80
157 – Dwayne Basson 79 78
163 – Mohit Mediratta 79 84
RTD – Mohammad Rauf Mandhu
