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Ken Borland


Bad joke for local contingent at Africa Open 0

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ken

 

European golfers have dominated the opening day of the Africa Open at East London Golf Club, with an Irishman, seven Englishmen, a Frenchman and a Spaniard all in the top 13 in what is certainly a bad joke for the local contingent.

South African golfers have won all seven previous editions of the Africa Open, but they are going to have a hard time keeping the trophy at home this time around, with just three golfers – Neil Schietekat, Oliver Bekker and Trevor Fisher Junior featuring high up the leaderboard.

Ireland’s Kevin Phelan, who has been tipped as one of the rising stars of European golf, claimed three successive birdies from the fifth hole, having started on the ninth, to post a five-under-par 67 and claim the lead. The 24-year-old has been in good form in his second full season on tour, finishing in a tie for second in last week’s Joburg Open after shooting a 66 on the final day.

He was joined late in the day by Matt Ford, who had been to qualifying school nine times before finally claiming his card last year. The Englishman posted a 66 on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, and yesterday he was arguably even more impressive in shooting a bogey-free 67 in blustery conditions on the East Coast.

The English dominance of the summer continued with Richard Bland, David Howell and John Parry all in the tie for third on four-under-par, alongside Schietekat, the leading South African, and Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva, who started in the most brilliant fashion with an eagle at the first and three more birdies before a double-bogey at the ninth halted the momentum.

Bekker and Fisher Junior are in the group on three-under, with England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, the former world number one amateur, his compatriots Tom Lewis and Chris Lloyd, and Frenchman Gregory Havret.

 

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Category Golf, Sport

Defending champ Schwartzel misses cut 0

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Ken

Defending and Masters champion Charl Schwartzel missed the cut in the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Saturday as Englishmen Robert Rock and Richard Finch and South African George Coetzee shared the lead after two rounds of the European and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned event.
    Rock, Finch and Coetzee were on 11-under-par after the second round was completed on Saturday morning after thunderstorms washed out play on both the first and second afternoons, nine hours of play being lost.
    The cut was made on 65th and ties and fell on four-under-par.
    Schwartzel missed the cut by one stroke as he fired rounds of 72 and 68 to finish on three-under-par in the tournament played on two courses – the par-72 East Course and par-71 West Course.
    “It’s always guesswork when you come off a break and competitive golf is always different. But to get straight on to the point, my putting let me down. You’re not going to be doing very well on a course where you should be going for birdies if you have 34 putts. I hit 17 greens in regulation but I was just three-under, so it was not my best effort,” Schwartzel said after his second round.
    “I’m not stroking the ball properly and I don’t have that rhythm you get from playing tournament golf week in, week out. If you hit a few off-line, you start doubting yourself, which makes it worse,” Schwartzel told reporters.
    Rock claimed the lead as he shot a four-under-par 67 on the easier West Course, after he had produced the joint best round of the first day on the East Course – a seven-under-par 65.
    But Finch and Coetzee caught Rock on Saturday morning as they walked off the course with 66 and 67 respectively on the East Course.
    Coetzee fired six birdies, but his hopes of leading on his own were spoilt by a bogey on the par-four 17th.
    “I’m not happy about that bogey at the end. I was playing well and when I made that par on 16, I thought I could push for a couple more birdies. As soon as you say that, the bogey happens,” Coetzee said.
    Finch joined the leaders thanks to his third professional hole-in-one, as he aced the par-three 12th hole with a six-iron from 188 metres.
    “It was actually my second in South Africa, I made one at Humewood a few years ago during the SA Open. I made the other one at the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles,” Finch said.

Tags:
Category Golf, Sport

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    John 14:20 – “On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

    All the effort and striving in the world, all the good works and great sacrifices, will not help you to become like Christ unless the presence of the living Christ is to be found in your heart and mind.

    Jesus needs to be the source, and not our own strength, that enables us to grow spiritually in strength, beauty and truth.

    Unless the presence of Christ is a living reality in your heart, you will not be able to reflect his personality in your life.

    You need an intensely personal, more intimate relationship with Christ, in which you allow him to reveal himself through your life.

     

     



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