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.

PORT EDWARD (KwaZulu-Natal) – Neelesh Sitlu very nearly retired injured after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Wild Coast Pro-Am, but the 16-handicapper from Mount Edgecombe Estate bravely soldiered on in the second round on Thursday and ended up winning the competition alongside professional Pierre Pellegrin.

Sitlu and Pellegrin, along with Pride Sembo who was the professional partner in the first round, notched 87 points, two points more than the team of Albert Venter, James Pennington and amateur Marvela Sithole.

Sitlu only started playing golf two years ago and was appearing in his first pro-am, and his victory was even more remarkable considering his injury.

“On the first day I was trying to out-drive the pros from our forward tees, but I ended up pulling or tearing something in my right arm. I barely slept, I was buying ice for my arm, using towels soaked in hot water and I even called my Dad, who is a GP, and my cousin, who is a physio, for advice.

“This morning I could barely move my arm, but then one of the pros said I shouldn’t be using my right arm much anyway, I should be pulling with my left arm. So I focused on that and I had my best round ever, my lowest score,” Sitlu revealed.

The business analyst and software developer in the health services sector had nothing but praise for professional partners Sembo and Pellegrin, and they in turn said Sitlu was the perfect gentleman.

“Playing in my first pro-am, I was quite nervous because I didn’t really know how you are meant to play with a professional. But they were so calm and welcoming, it was like playing with a friend, just a 100 times better golfer! They are so disciplined and they were both exactly what you’d imagine a pro to be,” Sitlu said.

“He was very fun to play with, a very good partner,” Pellegrin said of Sitlu. “It was a good day in an amazing place, we combined perfectly together and to win was just a bonus. Our job as pros is to make the amateurs happy, and I really enjoy playing in pro-ams because you meet new people from around the country and make connections.

“I’m always grateful to play in a pro-am because it’s a way of thanking the sponsors, who make it possible for us to play golf,” Pellegrin said.

The Mauritian is playing his second full season on the Sunshine Tour and says the pivotal difference as he finds his feet on the prestigious tour that is continually churning out fresh generations of bright Southern African talent, is that he knows what to expect.

“I managed to retain my card after my first season and now I know what to expect, especially in terms of how I manage external things like travel and accommodation, I’m doing that much better now.

“I’m very happy with where my golf is at, I’m doing okay, although any golfer always feels they can do better. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and I played well in the pro-am, but it will be a tougher set-up for the tournament proper.

“I’ve played a couple of times at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club and it is in great condition. But this course is my nemesis, I haven’t had my best results here. You’ve got to know how to score around here and I’m always up for the challenge. Plus I can take some confidence from winning the pro-am,” Pellegrin said.

BALLITO (KwaZulu-Natal) – Luke Jerling rates Umhlali Country Club as being one of his favourite courses and he continued to show how comfortable he is on the 5943m Peter Matkovich design as he fired a second consecutive 66 on Thursday to claim a two-shot lead after the second round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya.

The 32-year-old Jerling had eight birdies but three bogeys on the first day, but he played much more controlled golf on Thursday, dropping just the one shot, on the tough par-four 15^th hole. A hot putter allowed him to collect six birdies as he goes into Saturday’s final round on 10-under-par.

“I really enjoy this golf course, I finished third here in this event last year and just missed out on a playoff,” Jerling said. “I’m not the longest hitter and this is not a bomber’s paradise. There are quite a few fiddly tee-shots and good par-threes.

“Fortunately my short game is my strength and I also made a few putts after struggling for a while with the putter. It was nice to see a few roll in and my iron-play was also very solid,” Jerling said.

Danie van Tonder is poised for another final-round charge as he lies second on eight-under-par, following a 67 on Thursday that included an eagle on the 489m par-five 10^th hole.

Pieter Moolman (66) and Astin Arthur (69), the amateur from nearby Mount Edgecombe who has won five events this year, are tied for third on seven-under-par.

Overnight leader Jacob Oakley endured a disappointing day as he shot a 75 to finish on four-under-par, still inside the top-10 though. There are a host of Sunshine Tour winners in the top-10, including the in-form Malcolm Mitchell, who is ninth on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

Jerling has come close before to winning his maiden Sunshine Tour title, finishing third three times and being the runner-up in the 2022 Manguang Open. Although he is now based at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, Jerling is with the coastal players who are hoping for the wind to get up in the final round.

“The wind might pick up more and I won’t mind at all coming originally from Port Elizabeth, where you have to shape the ball a bit. It’s the sort of course where my game-plan will be the same whether I’m chasing the cut or enjoying a five-shot lead, I’ll hit the same shots.

“So I’m not going to think too much about the final round, although it would be lovely to get over the line. It’s actually a bonus being in contention because I’ve been doing some good work with my coach Neil Cheetham and we made a breakthrough last week with my driver and my transition of weight, getting a better turn off the ball with more width. I can see the improvement, which is exciting,” Jerling said.

BALLITO (KwaZulu-Natal) – Jacob Oakley improved on his best ever round on the Sunshine Tour for the second tournament in a row as the Englishman fired an excellent eight-under-par 63 on Wednesday to lead the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Sibaya after the first round at Umhlali Country Club.

Oakley shot a wonderful 65 on the first day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Sishen Golf Club on September 20, and even though he then posted rounds of 75 and 74, his finish of tied-18^th was still his best ever on the Sunshine Tour.

That 65 gave him a one-shot lead after the first round, but on Wednesday his 63 saw him open up a two-stroke gap on the well-travelled duo of Trevor Fisher Jnr and Alex Haindl.

The 26-year-old Oakley was also the first to tee-off on the first hole at Umhlali on Wednesday and no-one was able to better his haul of eight birdies. He started slowly with three pars, before three birdies in four holes led him to three-under at the turn. Oakley collected back-to-back birdies on the 12^th and 13^th holes, and then finished brilliantly with three successive birdies, making threes on the 16^th and 17^th holes and then a two on the 182m closing hole.

Having claimed the last of his five Sunshine Tour victories in August 2021 at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen event, Haindl may have wondered when his next appearance at the top of a leaderboard would happen, finishing 93^rd and 160^th on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy since then. He has not made a cut in five events this season.

But the Schoeman Park golfer was inspired on Wednesday, collecting seven birdies by the 16^th hole, but then dropping his only shot on the 18^th.

Fisher Jnr began his round on the 10^th and reached the turn on three-under. He then birdied the first hole but dropped a shot at the par-four second. But an eagle on the par-five fifth was followed by a birdie on his last hole, the par-four ninth, as he joined Haindl in the tie for second.

Astin Arthur, the winner of the Western Province, Indian Ocean and Southern Cape amateur opens this year and the runner-up in the South African Strokeplay Championship, was another surprise packet on Wednesday as he shot a five-under-par 66 to be in the tie for fourth place on four-under-par.

Luke Jerling, who made eight birdies but also three bogeys, and Malcolm Mitchell also shot 66s.