Ken Borland

PRETORIA, Gauteng – Albert Venter led by four strokes after the first round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at the Wingate Park Country Club and the 26-year-old ensured he kept the door closed on his rivals in Thursday’s second round as he posted a solid three-under-par 69 to stretch that advantage to five strokes.

Venter will head into the final round on 12-under-par for the tournament, having shot a brilliant 63 in the first round.

There was a blustery wind in Pretoria on Thursday, just the sort of conditions in which a golfer could blow a lead on the hard and fast greens of Wingate Park, and Venter began his round cautiously, being level-par, with a birdie and a bogey, through his first eight holes.

But he was then able to tear around the turn with three birdies in the next four holes. Six straight pars coming in on the front nine completed a round which could only be considered a success.

“The wind picked up a lot today so my first few holes were not too bad. It was definitely trickier today to figure out which way it was blowing. Because the course is tree-lined, it swirls around a bit,” Venter said.

“There were quite difficult decisions to make over which irons to play. But we predicted the wind would pick up and the plan was to get my score as low as possible to build a bit of a cushion.

“Thankfully I kept my head in the game and managed to get a decent score. I can’t control what the other golfers do, but I am in a really good position,” Venter said.

On a hard day to shoot a really low score, Estiaan Conradie (69) and Jean Hugo (68) have done really well to position themselves as Venter’s closest challengers, on seven-under-par.

Luke Brown produced the round of the day, a 66 that included seven birdies to join Ruan Korb (70) on six-under for the tournament.

Venter won the Zimbabwe Open in May for his maiden Sunshine Tour title and will be able to learn from that experience in Friday’s final round.

“The big thing about winning is trying to get into those positions more and more, trying to get used to the atmosphere and nerves you face on the final day,” the Silver Lakes golfer said.

“I’ve been in quite a few situations like that in the last few years, although I wouldn’t say I’m experienced. But I’ve been in the situation before and I know how to deal with the nerves and the adrenaline.

“I can’t get ahead of myself, I have to stay patient and stick to my guns,” Venter said.

PRETORIA, Gauteng – Albert Venter enjoyed a dream start to his round, but then had to stay chill to ensure he converted it into a brilliant one on the opening day of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Time Square Casino at the Wingate Park Country Club in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Venter, teeing off shortly before noon, birdied the first three holes and then made sure he gave nothing away as he compiled a bogey-free nine-under-par 63 to give himself a four-stroke lead after the first round of the R1 million event.

The Silver Lakes golfer ensured he didn’t push too hard, making pars from the fourth to eighth holes, before making his fourth birdie at the par-three ninth hole. Venter went on another superb run from the 12^th hole, going birdie-eagle-birdie, and then he capped his round with another birdie on the 18^th, the third par-five of the back nine.

“Those three birdies in the first three holes really put my round in place, but it was important not to get ahead of myself,” Venter said. “I just tried to keep hitting greens and give myself chances.

“I had to still go through my processes. I reached the turn in four-under even though there was only one par-five on the front nine. With three par-fives on the back nine, I always thought there would be scoring opportunities there and I just had to be patient.

“On the 13^th I had only an eight-iron in, but finished on the fringe because of an unlucky bounce. But then I putted in from there, although it counts as a chip-in on the stats,” Venter laughed.

There’s not much water around Wingate Park and it’s nice to golfers off the tee, but the firm greens, especially at this time of year, are what generally prevents golfers from really laying down the law on the course established in the late 1940s.

“Wingate Park in winter is quite difficult because the greens are quick, firm and fast,” Venter said. “That’s the defence – it’s unpredictable how the ball will bounce on them, so your approach shots have to be more accurate, you have to be more specific about where you land the ball.

“Hitting 10 fairways obviously helped me. The course is quite tree-lined so those fairways I missed, fortunately it was not a big enough miss to land me in too much trouble,” Venter said.

Other golfers to get good returns on Wednesday were Hennie O’Kennedy, Richard Joubert and Martin Rohwer, who all shot five-under 67s to share second place.

Estiaan Conradie, Wynand Dingle, Keagan Thomas and Ruan Korb were a further stroke back after shooting 68s.

SUN CITY, North-West – Rourke van der Spuy kept the door firmly closed on multiple Sunshine Tour winners Hennie Otto and Louis de Jager as another inspired putting display saw him shoot 69 in the final round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City to claim a three-stroke victory in the first event of the SunBet Series.

De Jager, who has won five times on tour, and Otto, who has a whopping 13 Sunshine Tour titles plus three on the European Tour, were Van der Spuy’s company in the final three-ball, breathing down his neck just one stroke behind the 32-year-old.

But Van der Spuy was unfazed, leading from start-to-finish in the final round. He made an early statement with birdies on the second and third holes, and even back-to-back bogeys on six and seven did not derail him. Birdies on the 10^th and 11^th holes put him back in command, and he sealed the deal with a fine approach into the middle of the 17^th green and a 25-foot birdie putt.

“It was just about spot-on in terms of our planning. My coach and I said we would go for a score in the 60s, on a tough course like this that felt like it would be good enough,” a delighted Van der Spuy said.

“Something under-par was our target and I’m very proud to have broken 70. I had control of my game, even when Louis went on a good run on the back nine. That birdie on 17 was my most clutch putt of the day.

“I’ve been very good on the greens all week and my only slip-up was a three-putt on seven, but that was a very long putt.

“I’ve always thought, why not lead and be the frontrunner, even one shot counts at the end of the day,” Van der Spuy said.

It’s been four years between celebrations for the Durban Country Club golfer, whose previous Sunshine Tour wins were at the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open in 2018 and the Fish River Sun Challenge in 2015.

Making the occasion even more special was to be able to beat Otto, who finished in a tie for third, four shots back, after a level-par 72 on Friday.

“Playing with Hennie was a wonderful feeling because growing up, and when I started at the bottom of the Sunshine Tour, I looked up to him as a mentor. He is such an accomplished and successful golfer, and Louis as well. Today I realised some childhood dreams,” Van der Spuy said.

Ockie Strydom fired a 68, the low round of the day, to finish in a tie for fifth on three-under-par with JJ Senekal (71) and the in-form Louis Albertse (72).

De Jager finished in second place on his own, on five-under-par, after making 71 in the final round. But he did give Van der Spuy some cause for concern on the back nine as he collected three birdies.

But not even that could distract Van der Spuy from his goal.

SUN CITY, North-West – It took a little while for Rourke van der Spuy to warm up, but he was loving the greens on the back nine as he shot a one-under-par 71 on Thursday to claim a one-stroke lead after the second round of the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City at Gary Player Country Club.

The 32-year-old Van der Spuy will be heading into Friday’s final round on five-under-par for the tournament, one clear of a strong quartet of contenders in Hennie Otto (69), Louis de Jager (68), Callum Mowat (73) and Kyle Barker (70).

Van der Spuy went into the second round in second place, one shot behind Mowat, and, teeing off at 8am, he made seven straight pars before a double-bogey at the par-four eighth was a frustrating blow.

“The big thing about teeing off early in the morning at Sun City is the considerable temperature difference compared to later in the day,” Van der Spuy said.

“The sun rises at 7am but it only really gets warm around 9-10 o’clock. It just takes a while for the body to warm up and get loose, and of course the ball goes much further when it’s warmer.

“So it’s just a case of getting through the first nine holes and I was just pleased to be bogey-free after seven holes, but then the double-bogey six was a punch in the gut,” Van der Spuy said.

But as the sun rose above the Pilanesberg mountains and warmed both the course and the competitors, the Durban-born golfer warmed to his task with back-to-back birdies around the turn and then two more sandwiching a bogey at the 15^th.

“I was very happy to recover with those two birdies straight after the double-drop and I was definitely more comfortable on the back nine,” Van der Spuy said.

“It was also a good day on the greens, I converted a few outside chances to keep the round going. Credit to my caddy, Jacob Lekgotho, who I called in three times on the back nine and he was spot-on with his lines.

“Jakes has been the caddy master at Sun City so he’s as comfortable around Gary Player Country Club as I am and those putts were real momentum-keepers,” Van der Spuy said.

The Durban Country Club representative won on his rookie year on tour at the 2015 Fish River Sun Challenge and then again, three years later, at the Mopani Redpath Zambia Open. But as surely as the years have passed, so too has Van der Spuy’s game evolved and he said the final round will be about setting and achieving a target he and his coach set for himself.

“We will see how everyone finishes and then create a game-plan from there. The key is we will be looking at a score and not the rest of the field.

“It’s been an 18-month process and it’s something I now trust to get the job done in a final round. As you mature and go through the ups-and-downs of a golf career, your game evolves as you do as a person.

“I’m definitely a different player now than I was when I won those tournaments three years apart. But I trust the golfer I am,” Van der Spuy said.

The experienced duo of Otto and De Jager were both in fine form on Thursday, having 11 birdies between them, and they will surely put Van der Spuy to the test in Friday’s final round.