The strong winds along the seaside were a real pest for most of the golfers at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club on Saturday, but Hennie O’Kennedy managed to get the better of them as he went to the top of the leaderboard on the second day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf KwaZulu-Natal event.
Those winds eventually blew in a thunderstorm that caused play to be suspended for the day, with O’Kennedy on one-under-par for his round, and two-under overall, with three holes to play in his second round. The Stellenbosch Golf Club player has a one-stroke lead at the moment over Ruan de Smidt (70), Ethan Smith (68), Haydn Porteous (68), Conner Mackenzie (66) and Trevor Fisher Jnr, who is three-under for his round and has six holes still to play when the second round resumes at 7.30am on Sunday.
O’Kennedy said he was very happy with how things had turned out on the penultimate day of the R2 million event, saying he had been lucky with the draw.
“It was not at all easy out there and I’m very happy with where I’m sitting. I had a good front nine, starting on the 10th and reaching the turn in level par, and I think we had the better side of the draw. For the first four or five holes we were into the wind, but then the next seven or eight holes were all downwind.
“My putter has been doing its job over the past two days and I’m very pleased with it. Here and there I’ve missed putts, but these greens are not that easy. I’ve been working on something new with my coach and it was nice to see that paying off,” O’Kennedy said.
The 27-year-old’s control has been excellent and he has hit most of his greens in regulation. O’Kennedy was heading for a big finish when the weather intervened, having eagled the 544-yard par-five third hole and then birdieing the par-four fifth, his penultimate hole before play was suspended.
“I hit a good drive on the second but I was not able to get up-and-down for birdie, so I was not happy. But on the third, I hit a driver and then seven-iron to 15 feet behind the hole and made the putt, so that was quite a confidence-booster. The fifth hole is not usually that easy, but today it was downwind and I hit a great two-iron and then nudged a sand-wedge to 15 feet, before holing the putt,” O’Kennedy said.
After an up-and-down season which O’Kennedy admitted has left him a little frustrated, he is in position to claim his best individual result of the season, having finished 12th on the Order of Merit delivered by the Courier Guy last season.
“I’m in a better space mentally and with my game than last year, so it’s been a little frustrating not to score that well. But it looks like I am trending in the right direction before the co-sanctioned events,” O’Kennedy said.
He added that he was hoping the wind has died down or switched direction on Sunday morning. “I was actually quite pleased to come off because I have the eighth hole coming up, it’s a short par-three with water on the left. I spoke to one of my mates and he said he had to hit five-iron in there, so I’m hoping things are a bit calmer tomorrow!”
Scores (Incomplete Round:
2 – Hennie O’Kennedy 69 (-1) [15]
-1 – Ruan de Smidt 69 70, Ethan Smith 71 68, Haydn Porteous 71 68, Conner Mackenzie 73 66, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 (-3) [12]
Par – Jake Redman 74 66, Jaco Van Zyl 72 (-2) [12]
+1 – David Wicks 72 69
+2 – Madalitso Muthiya 75 67, Jbe’ Kruger 68 74, Ruan Korb 74 (-2) [15], MJ Viljoen 75 (-3) [15], Luca Filippi 74 (-2) [12], Matthew Spacey 75 (-3) [9]
+3 – Jared Harvey 71 72, Toto Thimba Jnr 73 70, Martin Vorster 77 66, Keegan Mclachlan 76 67, Vaughn van Deventer 70 73, Jovan Rebula 74 (-1) [15], Keenan Davidse 71 (+2) [12], Pieter Moolman 76 (-3) [12], Louis Albertse 72 (+1) [12], Luke Jerling 73 (Par) [12]
+4 – Colin Nel 74 70, Lindani Ndwandwe 75 69, Richie O’Donovan 74 70, Hayden Griffiths 73 71, Christiaan Basson 74 (Par) [15], Jean Hugo 73 (+1) [15], Doug McGuigan 72 (+2) [12], Martin Rohwer 74 (Par) [12], Yurav Premlall 72 (+2) [12], Combrinck Smit 75 (-1) [12], Erhard Lambrechts 73 (+1) [9]
+5 – Keagan Thomas 72 73, Drikus Joubert 75 70, Nikhil Rama 80 65, Rhys West 76 (-1) [15], Kyle Barker 75 (Par) [12], Merrick Bremner 75 (Par) [12], Robson Chinhoi 74 (+1) [12]
+6 – Jack Hawksby 73 73, Jason Roets 76 70, Tristin Galant 74 72, Rourke van der Spuy 75 71, Heinrich Bruiners 75 71, Luke Brown 69 (+7) [15], Brittney-Fay Berger 73 (+3) [15], Jordan Duminy 76 (Par) [15], Dylan Naidoo 75 (+1) [12], Malcolm Mitchell 75 (+1) [9], Peter Karmis 77 (-1) [9]
+7 – Franklin Manchest 75 72, Michael Hollick 74 73, Sentanio Minnie 80 67, Otto Van Buynder 73 74, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 75 (+2) [15]
+8 – Karabo Mokoena 77 71, Danie Van Niekerk 77 71, Sean Bradley 78 70, Kyle De Beer 73 75, Travis Ladner 77 71, Jacques P de Villiers 76 (+2) [15], Christiaan Burke 74 (+4) [15], Ruan Conradie 77 (+1) [12], Jonathan Broomhead 77 (+1) [12], Wynand Dingle 77 (+1) [9]
+9 – Lyle Rowe 76 73, Dylan O’Leary 80 69, James Pennington 80 69, Neil Schietekat 82 (-3) [12], Gerhard Pepler 80 (-1) [12]
+10 – James Mack 80 70, Richard Joubert 75 75, Luke Trocado 74 76, Ryan Van Velzen 76 (+4) [12]
+11 – Jastice Mashego 78 73, Ricky Hendler 77 74, Kyle McClatchie 81 70, Adriel Poonan 79 72, Joe Long 79 (+2) [9]
+12 – Adam Breen 77 75, Jonathan Waschefort 81 (+1) [15], Tandi McCallum 77 (+5) [15]
+13 – Allister de Kock 78 75, Ryan Tipping 79 74, Makhetha Mazibuko 79 74, Keelan van Wyk 84 (-1) [9], Callum Mowat 81 (+2) [9], Gerard du Plooy 79 (+4) [9]
+14 – Nyasha Muyambo 80 74, Sydney Joseph Wemba 82 72
+15 – Wade Jacobs 80 75, Michael Kok 82 73
+16 – Thanda Mavundla 79 77, Gerhard Trytsman 83 73, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 84 72, Leon Visser 84 72, Cara Gorlei 78 (+8) [12], Rigardt Albertse 82 (+4) [9], Gregory Mckay 81 (+5) [9]
+17 – Sabelo Xolani Majola 80 77, Dayne Moore 87 70, LB Boshoff 82 (+5) [9]
+18 – Pierre Pellegrin 83 75, Nicholaus Frade 81 77, Ronald Rugumayo 79 79, Willie Olivier 76 82, Jules Helary 84 74, Tyron Davidowitz 79 79
+19 – Chante van Zyl 81 (+8) [15], Ryan Estment 81 (+8) [15]
+20 – Mutahi Kibugu 86 74
+21 – Fezekile Kana 82 79, Siyanda Mwandla 87 74, Aneurin Gounden 88 (+3) [15]
+30 – SP Mthethwa 90 80
WDN – Ben Firth 81 WDN
RTD – Stuart Krog 79 RTD
Photo by Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour
