Ken Borland

KHOLWANE (Eswatini) – Combrinck Smit focused on keeping the ball in play and also not making mistakes, so it was little surprise that he dropped just one stroke on the opening day of the FNB Eswatini Challenge at Nkonyeni Lodge & Golf Estate on Thursday, shooting a 67 to join a three-way tie for the lead.

Jason Roets also dropped just one shot and had an eagle on the par-five eighth, to also post five-under-par, while Stephen Ferreira was outstanding in not having a single bogey in the first round, the only golfer to achieve this on Thursday, to also finish with 67.

Smit’s only blemish came on the par-three 11^th, his second hole, but he had birdies on the 10^th, 12^th, 13^th and 15^th holes going out, picking up further strokes on the third and eighth holes.

“I’m very pleased, I kept the ball in play all the time, hit a lot of good shots and tried not to make mistakes. So it was a stress-free round really,” Smit said afterwards. “This course is an awesome mix of a links on the one side and then a typical bushveld course on the other, and I really enjoy it, it suits me well.

“My game has steadily been getting a little better over the last four or five weeks. I’m experimenting with a couple of things, but it pretty much comes down to getting the basics right. I’d fallen a bit behind on some things and you pick up bad habits. The main thing is just to enjoy it out there, rather than thinking about posting anything in particular,” Smit said.

The Eshowe Hills golfer has no fear when it comes to mixing things up on the course, having the creative shot-making ability required to adapt to the Nkonyeni terrain, especially on the links side. Smit finished tied-sixth here two years ago.

“I think I’ve done well here in the past because I have a lot of options off the tee. I can hit long-irons and get them running, or I can play a high draw or play low shots. I don’t always have to use driver if I’m not confident with the Big Dog,” Smit said.

The 40-year-old Neil Schietekat was in the tie for second place on four-under-par with Daniel van Tonder and Ethan Smith, with the two pivotal moments in his round of 68 coming around the turn. He eagled the short 274m par-four ninth, but then made double-bogey on the par-four 10^th.

KHOLWANE, Eswatini – Multiple Sunshine Tour winner Jean Hugo and Wynand Dingle got to within a stroke at times, but Jaco Prinsloo held his nerve to stay in front and complete a wire-to-wire three-stroke victory in the FNB Eswatini Nkonyeni Challenge at the Nkonyeni Lodge and Golf Estate on Saturday.

Prinsloo shot a three-under-par 69 in Saturday’s third and final round to finish on 12-under-par in the R1 million tournament, with Hugo posting a 68 to finish on nine-under-par, and a bogey on the par-three 18^th hole seeing Dingle sign for a 68 as well, but slipping back into a tie for third with Keegan Thomas (68) and Martin Rohwer (69) on eight-under.

The 32-year-old Prinsloo, who counts big titles such as the 2017 Vodacom Origins of Golf Final and last year’s Players Championship among his five professional titles, led by two strokes going into the final round. He made a nervous start with a bogey at the par-four first hole, but his lead grew again with three successive birdies from the seventh hole.

The Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate golfer went three ahead with a birdie at the par-four 12^th hole, but a bogey at the par-four 14^th, which Hugo birdied, made for a nervous finish, especially with the last hole being a tricky par-three.

But Prinsloo crucially managed to get a birdie-three on the 16^th hole, while Hugo made bogey and Dingle could only make par, and the Centurion resident parred the last two holes for a victory that got him up to fourth on the Luno Order of Merit.

What was most impressive about Prinsloo’s win was that he did what he said he was going to do as the frontrunner on the final day: He kept his head down and stuck to his game-plan, no matter what the compelling duo of Hugo and Dingle threw at him.

Charl Schwartzel was the star of the second round at the South African Open on Friday as he closed to within a stroke of leader Andy Sullivan at Glendower Golf Club.

Despite battling a badly bruised toe and still trying to rediscover his perfect swing, Schwartzel was able to make five birdies and an eagle, offsetting four bogeys, as he posted a 69 that took him to seven-under-par for the tournament, in second place behind Sullivan.

The Englishman, the joint leader overnight, went out from the 10^th hole in three-under 33, but would make bogeys at the par-four fifth and seventh holes, before picking up a shot at the par-five eighth to finish with a 70 and eight-under-par overall.

Schwartzel also started on the 10^th and had grafted through his round, playing his first 15 holes in one-over-par. But a spectacular birdie-eagle-birdie finish allowed the South African to make a dramatic surge up the leaderboard.

“I was just missing fairways by a little bit, or when I finally hit a good shot I would three-putt, so nothing was really going for me. But any time you finish like that, it turns your day into a much better one and nobody was more surprised than me!” Schwartzel said after his round.

Schwartzel has not had a top-10 finish on the European Tour since August’s Bridgestone Invitational WGC event and has been battling much-publicised swing problems. But on Friday his biggest wish would have been for carts to be allowed so he wouldn’t have to walk between holes after bashing his toe on some househould furniture in the build-up to the tournament.

“I’m trying to get an old feeling back in my swing and it’s the same with the putter, I’ve spent quite a few hours on the practice green. I’m just trying to remember what I used to do, even going as far back as my junior days, just trying to be more consistent.

“But my toe was worse today. There’s no real pain when I hit the ball, it’s just the walking that is very painful. But I’m not playing in pain otherwise I would withdraw,” Schwartzel said.

While South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer merely had to deal with stabbing pains in his toe, five-time champion and tournament host Ernie Els must have felt like Glendower had kneed him in the groin as he crashed down the leaderboard with a staggering bogey, triple-bogey, triple-bogey sequence from the eighth hole.

But Els has not won 67 professional tournaments and earned the equivalent of nearly a billion rand in prizemoney by being mentally fragile and he fought his way back with successive birdies on 13 and 14, before parring his way in for a 77. The host will nevertheless be around for the weekend and is only eight shots behind Sullivan on level-par for the tournament.

Jbe’ Kruger, who was tied for the lead with Sullivan overnight, had a disastrous day with an 80 and just scraped into the weekend on the cut-mark of two-over.

JJ Senekal was the other golfer to produce a top-class round on Friday, shooting a 67 to climb into a share of third with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and fellow South African Colin Nel on six-under.

Sullivan, a jovial 28-year-old from Nuneaton, once again brought an aggressive approach to the tight parklands course and, apart from a wobble coming in, it paid off.

“The course was a bit tougher today but I’m happy with my round, I actually probably played a bit better today. The rough is brutal but yesterday I got away with it, while today I was punished a couple of times. But I attacked just as much,” Sullivan said.