Neil Schietekat fired a superb five-under-par 65 on Friday in the second round of the SunBet Challenge Wild Coast to claim a share of the lead with Jean Hugo going into the final round of the tournament at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club, and admitted part of him would have liked the strong winds that have disrupted the event to continue.
The R2 million Sunshine Tour tournament will now conclude with the completion of the third round on Saturday morning, with Schietekat and Hugo, tied on six-under-par, only due to start their final rounds at 7.45am.
Schietekat, who shot a one-under-par 69 in the first round, started his second round on the 10th and two birdies on his first three holes set him on his way. He was brilliant around the turn with birdies at the 16th, 18th and first holes, before the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington golfer collected his sixth birdie on the par-five third hole.
A soft bogey-five on the ninth hole, however, prevented him from claiming the outright lead, as first-round leader Jean Hugo posted a two-under-par 68 to maintain his presence at the top of the leaderboard.
“I like it tougher, I’m very comfortable in difficult conditions. So I wouldn’t mind if the wind does keep blowing on the final day. The forecast is for better weather though, but the greens are still going to be slick and tough. On this Wild Coast course, you always have to be willing to give and take,” Schietekat said.
“Conditions were still tough today and the greens were really slick. But I was really good off the tee today and my irons were there and thereabouts but good enough to hit the greens and I was putting from the right places. I was never in trouble, stuck to my guns and made a lot of good saves as well.”
While this is the first Sunshine Tour event after a six-week break, and the field also had to contend with all the weather disruptions, Schietekat played a tournament on the Asian Tour during the break, finishing 33rd in the Korea Open at the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club. It was time well spent.
“It was a really tough course, but at least I’ve had some tournament golf and I got those tournament juices flowing again. It’s been tough to get into a rhythm this week, but in this sort of situation, you’ve just got to go with it,” Schietekat said.
CJ du Plessis has had good times on coastal courses before and he is lurking in third place, his 67 leaving him just a stroke behind the leaders on five-under-par, while Hennie du Plessis came charging on Friday, also shooting a 65 to share fourth place on three-under-par with DP World Tour campaigner Danie van Tonder (68).
Two seasoned golfers in Jaco van Zyl (70) and Peter Karmis (66) are on two-under-par.
SCORES:
134 – Neil Schietekat 69 65, Jean Hugo 66 68
135 – CJ du Plessis 68 67
137 – Hennie du Plessis 72 65, Daniel van Tonder 69 68
138 – Jaco Van Zyl 68 70, Peter Karmis 72 66
139 – Jonathan Broomhead 70 69, DK Kim 70 69, Callum Mowat 70 69
140 – Malcolm Mitchell 71 69
141 – Matthew Spacey 74 67, Combrinck Smit 72 69, James Hart du Preez 74 67, James Mack 72 69
142 – Hennie O’Kennedy 75 67, Gerhard Pepler 75 67, Madalitso Muthiya 72 70
143 – Anthony Michael 75 68, Toto Thimba Jnr 70 73, Clancy Waugh 70 73, Keelan van Wyk 75 68, Jacques P de Villiers 73 70, Colin Nel 74 69
144 – Makhetha Mazibuko 71 73, Keagan Thomas 71 73, Dan Erickson 77 67, Jared Harvey 73 71, Erhard Lambrechts 75 69
145 – Luca Filippi 79 66, Louis Albertse 73 72, Rourke van der Spuy 70 75, Leon Visser 73 72, Quintin Wilsnach 75 70, Jean-Paul Strydom 70 75, Sean Cronje 70 75, Keegan Mclachlan 73 72
146 – Ricky Hendler 77 69, Jonathan Waschefort 78 68, Rupert Kaminski 78 68, Merrick Bremner 72 74, Jason Roets 73 73, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 72 74, Ruan de Smidt 75 71, Christiaan Basson 76 70, Stefan Wears-Taylor 74 72, Gregory Mckay 75 71
147 – Alphius Kelapile 77 70, Jovan Rebula 74 73, Albert Venter 78 69, Siyanda Mwandla 75 72, Tristin Galant 72 75, Estiaan Conradie 78 69, Ruan Korb 74 73, Tyron Davidowitz 76 71, Sentanio Minnie 76 71
Missed the cut:-
148 – Pierre Pellegrin 78 70, Jastice Mashego 80 68, Luke Trocado 74 74, Vaughn van Deventer 74 74, Allister de Kock 74 74, Dayne Moore 76 72, Jake Redman 71 77, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 76, Danie Van Niekerk 77 71, Kyle McClatchie 75 73, Jordan Duminy 74 74, James Pennington 78 70, Thanda Mavundla 75 73
149 – Jacquin Hess 76 73, Jacques Blaauw 77 72, Michael Hollick 78 71, Ian Snyman 78 71, Rhys West 78 71
150 – Ryan Tipping 74 76, Drikus Joubert 74 76, Lindani Ndwandwe 76 74, Ryan Van Velzen 77 73, Conner Mackenzie 79 71, Travis Ladner 75 75
151 – Heinrich Bruiners 79 72, Adam Breen 77 74, LB Boshoff 72 79, Nicholaus Frade 76 75, Franklin Manchest 78 73
152 – Luke Brown 78 74, Ethan Smith 80 72, Robin Williams 75 77, Willie Olivier 80 72, Keelan Africa 77 75
153 – Marcel Steyn Scholtz 77 76, Aneurin Gounden 81 72, Ruan Conradie 74 79, Christiaan Burke 80 73, Jaco Ahlers 75 78, Gerhard Trytsman 82 71
154 – Stuart Krog 80 74
155 – Sean Bradley 71 84, Adriel Poonan 79 76
157 – Ronald Rugumayo 80 77
158 – Alex Haindl 84 74, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 79 79
159 – Reinhardt Blaauw 85 74
160 – Zu Mavundla 83 77
161 – Wade Jacobs 83 78
162 – Brandon-Jude Rennie 85 77
164 – SP Mthethwa 81 83
169 – Michael Kok 86 83
170 – Fezekile Kana 87 83
RTD – MJ Viljoen RTD RTD
Photo Credit:
(Photo by Troy Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
