Ken Borland

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Defending champion Robin Williams said an outstanding start and playing in the same three-ball as a charging Danie van Tonder were pivotal to his 65 on Friday, which gave him the lead after the second round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club.

Williams backed up his excellent 64 on the first day with a seven-under-par round that lifted him to 15-under-par at the halfway stage of the R2 million event, with Van Tonder firing a fabulous nine-under 63 on Friday to sit just one stroke behind on 14-under-par.

Altin van der Merwe (67) and Jovan Rebula (66) are a further two strokes behind, while first-round leader Kyle Barker is on nine-under, six behind, after a level-par 72 on Friday.

Williams notched three birdies in the first four holes, and reached the turn in five-under, but as most of the field found, the back nine was more testing and he came home in two-under, including a bogey at the par-three 12^th.

Van Tonder was the exception as he birdied the 10^th, 11^th and 14^th holes and then eagled the 477m, par-five 17^th to come home in 31.

“I had a good start and that set the tone for the whole round, I just had to keep the momentum going,” Williams said. “I’m very happy, you’re always pleased when you put yourself in position to win. I’ve gone above my expectations already, it’s my first title defence ever and there was quite a lot of pressure.

“But my favourite part of today was playing with Danie, we fed off each other. He played seriously good golf today and I’m looking forward to us pushing each other, bringing out the best in each other, over the weekend. It was great fun with him today and there was a stretch where he just could not stop getting birdies and I was just trying to keep up with him,” Williams said.

Because of the exciting promise he has shown and his success in the last year, Williams has had to mature quickly under the weight of attention. Especially after his sensational fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“It’s been tough handling all the external stuff, but I’m kinda learning how to handle it day in, day night. When I put my South African SIM card back in my phone, the number of messages waiting for me after the Dunhill was hectic.

“But I’m going to have to get used to it and learn to enjoy it. I still want to get my story out there as much as possible,” the 23-year-old Williams said.

Van der Merwe is 27 years old and only turned pro this year, but he showed why his amateur record was so good as he recovered from back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth holes by collecting four birdies in the next five holes.

Rebula’s 66 included just one bogey and an eagle on the par-five 11^th.

Our DP World Lions men’s team head to Potchefstroom on Saturday for a top-of-the-log final round T20 showdown with the Auto Investments North-West Dragons, and have greeted their midweek loss to Western Province in mature fashion.

Whoever wins the Potchefstroom clash will finish top of the CSA T20 Challenge standings and will enjoy hosting  privileges for Qualifier 1, as well as any other playoff game in which they are involved.

A washed out match will leave North-West in first place because they are currently one point ahead of the Pride, following the DP World Lions’ four-wicket loss to Western Province in Johannesburg.

A two-paced pitch saw #ThePrideOfJozi post 145 for seven, Wandile Makwetu (41 off 23) and Rassie van der Dussen (43 off 33) leading the way with the bat. Delano Potgieter was outstanding with the ball as he took two for four in three overs, including a maiden, but the visitors edged home with three balls to spare thanks to Eddie Moore’s lone hand (87* off 62 balls).

Coach Russell Domingo acknowledged that it was not the team’s best all-round performance this season, even the fielding and catching being a little sloppy. But the experienced mentor said perhaps that display had come at the right time.

“We had won four on the bounce and, in terms of the standings, we still would have had to beat the Dragons to finish first. Which would obviously be great because of the home playoffs you get. So if there was a game to lose then it was probably that one.

“We now have three games to win to win the title again, and the last match was a good wake-up call. We are still a long way from perfect, we’ve had a few ugly, scrappy wins. But last season was similar, we peaked at the right time. Hopefully it’s a similar scenario this time and we start playing our best cricket towards the end of the competition,” Domingo said.

There will be at least one change to the DP World Lions team as wicketkeeper/opener Wandile Makwetu unfortunately bust a finger in the field against Western Province. Connor Esterhuizen will take over the gloves as he did in midweek, but he will stay in the middle-order.

Makwetu made the opener’s slot his own this season as he belted 154 runs at a strike-rate of 133.91. Zubayr Hamza is likely to return to the starting XI, and move up from his regular No.3 slot to open the batting.

“Wandile’s broken finger is most unfortunate because he has ensured we have been starting very well. Historically the J.B. Marks Oval has a good pitch and outfield, you get value for money for your strokes. So you generally want to chase or if you are batting first, then you have to put up a big score. We know the Dragons are a tough side and they have a handful of big, formidable players,” Domingo said.

Despite a small hiccup in the T20 match, DP World Lions women’s coach Shaun Pretorius is sticking to the same squad that did duty in Bloemfontein, with the addition of three returnees from injury, for this weekend’s HollywoodBets Pro Series matches at home against the South-Western Districts Garden Route Badgers.

Our DP World Lions started the season with an impressive Pro50 win over the Free State Knights, headlined by Karabo Meso’s brilliant century and the all-round form of Jenna Evans, but they lost by six wickets with two balls remaining in their Pro20 encounter.

Given that #ThePrideOfJozi had slipped to 113 for five in the one-day match before Meso and Evans batted sensationally to add 171 for the sixth wicket, and that they scored just 115 for five in the T20 game, it is good news that two leading batters have recovered from injury and will return to the squad this weekend – veteran Kirstie Thomson and 20-year-old Netherlands international Madison Landsman.

“We’ve added to the squad with Kirstie back and Madison over her concussion and having scored a century in a club game. Plus our left-armer, Relebohile Mkhize, is back from injury and she was definitely one of our unsung heroines last season, both as a bowler and a member of the team. She is under-rated, but she is so consistent and strikes at the right times for us,” Pretorius said.

“The youngsters got us out of a hole in the 50-over match, but we want to show our backing in our selection. In the T20 game, the pitch was quite up-and-down and our batters just need to read the game better, to understand the conditions and not assume anything. The pitches are deteriorating more because we are having longer matches on them.

“The intent from the batters was not really there and some bowlers did not hit their straps, so we were on the back foot. But we have a quality attack and we did well to make a game of it,” Pretorius said.

In his dozen years and more involvement in women’s cricket, Pretorius said Meso’s innings in Bloemfontein was perhaps the best he has ever seen.

Meso came to the crease at 52 for three in the 10^th over, the DP World Lions having lost two wickets in successive deliveries, and the 17-year-old eased her way in measured fashion to a 56-ball half-century, with six fours. But as her partnership with Evans grew, the wicketkeeper/batted laid into the Knights bowlers, ending with an astonishing 128 not out off 129 deliveries, with 15 fours and a six.

“It’s probably the best innings I’ve seen in the last 12 to 15 years,” Pretorius said. “Just the way she assessed the situation and tried to build partnerships, and then she knew exactly when to take the game forward.

“Jenna was also phenomenal, scoring 65 not out and then making the breakthrough with the ball when Free State had a hundred partnership and then wrapping up the innings with four wickets. They both have a very bright future ahead.”

The Badgers come to the DP World Wanderers Stadium having lost both their Pro50 and Pro20 matches against the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins in Oudtshoorn in the opening round of fixtures.

EDENVALE (Gauteng) – Kyle Barker has been trying to massage his game in preparation for DP World Tour Qualifying School at the end of this month in Spain, and the 26-year-old fired an exceptional 63 in the opening round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday to fill him with confidence.

The Serengeti Estates golfer enjoys a one-stroke lead in the R2 million event, after Werner Deyzel and defending champion Robin Williams pushed him hard with 64s.

Barker’s nine-under-par score, which was also bogey-free, was his best round of the season and it seems he could be peaking at the right time after a solid, but unspectacular start to the campaign sees him sitting in 18^th position on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

“I had a great first couple of months but then things just slowed down. I was struggling a bit with my game and the set-up in my bag. But now I’ve found a really nice putter that is rolling the ball fantastically.

“This is my last event before going to DP World Tour Qualifying School and I really enjoyed the day. I was hitting the ball really nicely on the range in my warm-up and I just wanted to keep that feeling going, so birdies on the first two holes was a great way to start. I didn’t know that I was going to make only 26 putts though!

“The greens were very receptive after rain on Tuesday night, long-irons were pretty much stopping where they landed and wayward tee-shots would not bounce into too much trouble under trees. So I could be quite aggressive, but the back nine was a bit tougher because the wind picked up,” Barker said.

The highlight of a round that was just the right therapy for Barker was his eagle on the par-five 11^th.

“I smashed a drive down the middle and I had 196m to the front left, but the wind was slightly in my face, about seven or eight metres. So I hit a 205 shot with a six-iron, it was a bit long, in the middle of the green, but I had a downhill, 30ft putt which straight in the middle of the hole, which was really cool,” Barker explained.

Deyzel and Williams also had eagles in the first round, both of them on the 500m par-five sixth. Williams hit a brilliant seven-iron from 165 metres to three feet, which put him level with Barker on nine-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three eighth, his penultimate hole.

Williams continued the momentum from his brilliant fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this month and he was satisfied that he had positioned himself well in his first defence of a title in his professional career.

“It’s been really cool today, it’s the first time I’ve defended and I’m just remembering all the good memories from last year. It all kicked off for me here last year. Playing in Europe was good, but it is so tough there because everything is so different.

“My game was really good today, everything was solid, just a bit of a mistake on eight. But I kept the ball on the fairways. It’s just a course I really enjoy, the par-fives are not that long, so I picture them as par-fours and try to be more aggressive, as long as you find the fairway. I drove well and was able to take advantage of the par-fives.

“I will definitely take that first round, I just want to put myself in position to defend on the back nine on Sunday,” Williams said.