It was a partnership that was formed at a European Challenge Tour event in Italy, but when Brandon Stone agreed to be JJ Senekal’s teammate for this week’s Bain’s Whisky Ubunye Championship, it came with a proviso.

“Brandon warned me in Italy already that his wife’s birthday was on the Wednesday before the first round of this week’s tournament, so he may not be in showroom condition,” joked Senekal.

And yet they’ve both been in showroom condition as the duo share the lead on 11 under par with the team of Ryan van Velzen and Luca Filippi.

On a windy day and faced with the far more tricky format of foursomes, both teams rose to the challenge to earn themselves a one-stroke lead over the field.

Senekal and Stone, who have built up a strong friendship on the Challenge Tour this season, combined with a foursomes score of 67.

“We’ve built up a good friendship on the Challenge Tour and it’s nice to use that in this format,” said Senekal.

It’s this synergy that Stone feels has also been good for their golf this week.

“If you can surround yourself with a bunch of guys you enjoy and with personalities that you can get along with, it makes it that much easier on tour. I think we did well together these past few days. I never felt we were out of play at any time during the foursomes round which is a credit to how JJ and I played. On the first day of betterball it felt like we left a few birdies out there, but today we played really good golf. If I keep doing my job and JJ does his, we’ll be looking good come Sunday afternoon,” said Stone.

Alongside them, Filippi and Van Velzen combined equally well as they signed for a 68.

“We both played solid golf and we had 18 birdie putts today, which is quite good especially in foursomes where it can be hard to get into a rhythm,” said Van Velzen.

Saturday’s format is another round of foursomes which Filippi says they’re more than ready for. “We’re looking forward to it. The quality always comes to the top in foursomes. We’ll just stick to the same gameplan.”

Just one shot behind the leaders are the teams of Clancy Waugh and Hunter Epson, Louis Albertse and Hennie O’Kennedy, and Jean Hugo and Ruan Korb.

But no matter the format, Stone is quite clear as to what the weekend represents and his focus.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a team event or individual event. It’s still the weekend of a golf tournament.”

Scores (Foursomes):

133 – JJ Senekal & B Stone 66 67, R van Velzen & L Filippi 65 68
134 – C Waugh & H Epson 65 69, L Albertse & H O’Kennedy 64 70, J Hugo & R Korb 64 70
137 – M Rohwer & M Bremner 65 72, S Wears-Taylor & T Fisher Jnr 63 74, V Van Deventer & LB Boshoff 66 71, R Kaminski & JH du Preez 64 73
138 – T Davidowitz & W Olivier 65 73, Q Wilsnach & D Joubert 66 72, A de Kock & K Africa 69 69, J Harvey & M Hollick 67 71
139 – D Naidoo & K Davidse 68 71, E Conradie & R Conradie 66 73, M Muthiya & T Thimba Jnr 66 73, D Wicks & J Hawksby 66 73
140 – M Spacey & S Surry 67 73, C Cannon & L Jerling 68 72, J Broomhead & G Pepler 61 79, L Rowe & J Redman 67 73
141 – K Barker & U van den Berg 65 76, R Chinhoi & S Krog 65 76, W Dingle & H Bruiners 62 79, M Vorster & J Rebula 67 74, F Manchest & R Joubert 70 71, A Poonan & M Mazibuko 70 71, L Brown & H Griffiths 66 75, R Williams & T Galant 65 76
Missed the cut:-
142 – A Venter & CJ du Plessis 66 76, J Blaauw & R West 69 73, P Moolman & J Prinsloo 66 76, N Rama & K Van Wyk 70 72
143 – G Trytsman & D Van Niekerk 69 74, M Mitchell & J Van Zyl 66 77, A Gounden & C Mackenzie 67 76
144 – J Mack & R Hendler 70 74, S Cronje & JP Strydom 68 76, H Otto & L Visser 67 77, S Bradley & J Smith 71 73
145 – K Mclachlan & C Mowat 66 79, A Breen & K McClatchie 67 78
146 – F From & N Muyambo 67 79
147 – C Smit & E Lambrechts 67 80, R van der Spuy & G Mckay 66 81, K Thomas & M Kok 72 75
151 – A Haindl & J de Villiers 70 81
152 – A Michael & DK Kim 70 82

Photo 1: Brandon Stone (left) and JJ Senekal. Credit: Shaun Roy.