Ken Borland

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.

GEORGE, Western Cape – Ana Dawson moved two shots clear at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt on Saturday, managing to clean up her game after a rocky start, posting an excellent three-under-par 69 to move to four-under overall.

With the terrible weather of the opening round clearing, scores were lower at both the Montague and Outeniqua courses on Saturday. Alexandra Swayne also shot a 69 to move to two-under-par alongside Scotland’s Kylie Henry (70) in second place.

Dawson, who led by one after a 71 in the first round, began her round on Montague on Saturday with two bogeys in the first three holes, although she did birdie the par-three second.

The 22-year-old from the Isle of Man was much tidier thereafter, however, not dropping another shot until the par-four 15^th. In between, Dawson birdied the sixth, ninth and 11^th holes. She then brought a big finish as she birdied the par-four 16^th and par-five 18^th holes to end the day in prime position going into the final round.

South Africans Kiera Floyd (70) and Cara Gorlei (69) also did well on the Montague course to be tied for fourth on one-under, but there is a new local challenger in contention in veteran Lee-Anne Pace, who won this tournament in 2014 when it was down the road at George Golf Club.

Pace fired a fine 69, with six birdies and three bogeys to join her compatriots on one-under-par. The highlight of her round was an eagle-three on the ninth hole, while she also birdied the sixth and 10^th holes. Her only bogey came on the par-four 14^th.

The excellent build-up for the new SA20 tournament continued this week with the news that Sky Sports in the UK have signed a five-year deal to also show the tournament, expanding the global reach of the new T20 league and also bringing in some much-needed hard currency.

With the tournament kicking off in Cape Town next Tuesday evening in Cape Town, everything would seem to be in place for the SA20 to explode into the consciousness of cricket fans.

While co-owners SuperSport will obviously have the African broadcast rights for the league, the all-important Indian market was sown up by the 10-year deal signed with Viacom 18, the dynamic new entertainment network that is growing rapidly on the subcontinent. They are believed to be paying at least $240 000 per game, so this year’s 33 matches will bring in nearly $8 million (R135 million).

Contracts are also being finalised to ensure the tournament is broadcast in other major cricket markets like Australia/New Zealand and the Caribbean.

There is a title sponsor in BetWay, who have signed a “multi-year” deal, and CSA are intimating that the league will make a profit in its first year, having earlier predicted a five-year wait before the SA20 would be in the black.

One does still wonder, however, about a few finer details.

Is a run of five successive fixtures between February 3-7 on the Highveld – with matches at both the Wanderers and SuperSport Park on February 4 – going to enjoy good crowds? The semi-finals follow from February 8 and there is a good chance either the Joburg Super Kings or Pretoria Capitals will be involved in those too.

And is the tournament loadshedding-proof and, if so, are those emergency back-up measures not going to significantly decrease profits?

But here’s hoping for some magnificent action to take our minds off all the troubles currently surrounding South African cricket, never mind the country as a whole.

Having looked into my crystal ball, I would, if forced to, put money on a MI Cape Town versus Paarl Royals final.

MI Cape Town, in particular, have a marvellous attack – Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Rashid Khan could bowl 16 of their 20 overs, which leaves opposition batsmen with plenty of thinking to do when it comes to taking them on.

BENONI, Gauteng – Jayden Schaper enjoyed an excellent day on his home course of Ebotse Links as all aspects of his game came through for him in a seven-under-par 65 that gave him a share of the lead with Clinton Grobler and Ockie Strydom after the first round of the Fortress Invitational on Friday.

The highly-promising Schaper began his round on the 10^th hole with a birdie, and followed that up with consecutive gains on the 12^th and 13^th holes. A marvellous outgoing nine holes was capped by birdies at the par-three 15^th and par-five 18^th, seeing him go to the turn in just 31 strokes.

Schaper picked up three more birdies in four holes from the fourth, and even a bogey at the par-three eighth could not put a damper on a superb round of golf.

“Playing on my home course is a bit of an advantage because I know where certain pins are, where to miss and which bunkers to avoid,” Schaper said after his best round of the Sunshine Tour season so far.

“But you’ve still got to hit the ball well, hit the shots and make the putts. In the last couple of weeks, my tee-to-green play has been solid and I’ve been slowly getting better on the greens too.

“Today I just played really solid golf, I made good decisions and hit some really good shots. I was consistent today,” Schaper said.

The return of long-time coach Grant Veenstra from the United States may also have played a role in the impressive showing, with Schaper saying “it was the first week I’ve seen him in the last couple of months and it was really good to have him back to help out.”

Grobler, the 28-year-old Krugersdorp golfer, also started on the 10^th and began the round with three straight birdies, while bogeying the 17^th and fourth holes on the way to his 65. The highlight of his round was his eagle-three on the 18^th.

The in-form Strydom, from the nearby Serengeti Estate, cruised through the front nine in four-under-par, but then the rollercoaster began: The 37-year-old bogeyed the par-four 10^th, then grabbed a hat-trick of birdies from the 12^th, dropped a shot at 17, but then finished spectacularly with an eagle on the last hole to vault into a share of the lead.

The leaderboard is congested, with five golfers shooting 66, including the veteran Hennie Otto, the American Dan Erickson, the amateur Kyle de Beer, as well as Makhetha Mazibuko and Richard Joubert.

Wynand Dingle, the winner of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series San Lameer event three weeks ago, is in the group on five-under-par.