Ken Borland

HARARE – The prices you pay for inaccuracy at the Royal Harare Golf Club are steep, but Michael Hollick continues to largely avoid that problem with his precise game taking him to the top of the leaderboard after the third and penultimate round of the FBC Zim Open on Saturday.

Hollick followed up his first two rounds of 66 and 67 with an impressive 68 in the third round, leaving him on 15-under-par and enjoying a one-stroke lead going into Sunday’s final round.

The one-time Sunshine Tour winner made a slow start on Saturday, with a bogey on the par-three second meaning he was one-over after four holes. But he then birdied the fifth and sixth holes, and began the back nine birdie-birdie. Hollick followed up a bogey on the par-three 15^th with an eagle on the 16^th, and then birdied 17 before dropping a shot on the last hole to halve his lead.

“This golf course is very demanding, there’s not a lot of room for error. You have to be accurate, it’s like a game of chess out there,” Hollick said. “The greens are super-quick, probably the fastest we play on all year and they are very firm now after three days.

“They’re also all elevated with run-offs and narrow entrances to the greens, so if you don’t hit your target then you’re unlikely to get up-and-down. But I’m definitely feeling good, the last few months have been good for me and success breeds confidence. My swing and my short game are good and I’m just sticking to my guns,” Hollick said.

While other golfers have found the back nine at Royal Harare Golf Club especially testing, Hollick’s cool and calm approach saw him prosper there on Saturday as he came home in 33 shots, one or two strokes less than anyone else in the top four.

“Of late, I’ve been making a bogey at the start of my round, but I’ve always been able to recover. I’m quite relaxed, so I just carry on, knowing a birdie is probably around the corner.

“On the back nine today, I hit all the fairways, except for 18, and hit some nice irons, which makes it much easier to get those birdies,” Hollick said.

The evergreen Darren Fichardt is the chief challenger to Hollick, his 69 on Saturday lifting him to 14-under-par. The 48-year-old had four birdies and three bogeys, but an eagle at the par-five sixth made all the difference.

Kieran Vincent is the chief home hope on 11-under-par after a 67, leaving him tied for third with Anthony Michael (71). But two more Zimbabweans, Benjamin Follett-Smith and Kieran’s older brother Scott are one shot further back, alongside MJ Viljoen (66).

Follett-Smith fired the low round of the day, a seven-under-par 65, and was five-under at the turn.

HARARE – Martin Vorster was on a rock-solid two-under-par for his round after his first seven holes on Friday, but a raucous run around the turn in which he picked up four birdies and then an eagle helped catapult him to the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the FBC Zim Open at Royal Harare Golf Club.

The Mossel Bay representative began his round on the 10^th hole and made another eagle on the par-five sixth hole before parring his way in for a phenomenal 62, his best ever round in his 52^nd Sunshine Tour event. That lifted Vorster to 12-under-par at the halfway mark of the R2.5 million event, one stroke ahead of Darren Fichardt (66) and Michael Hollick (67).

Vorster responded in style to a grungy first round that included four bogeys to offset six birdies. On Friday he made birdies at the 10^th, 12^th and 14^th holes, before his only dropped shot, a four at the par-three 15^th. But the 22-year-old then made sweet music with four straight birdies at 17, 18, one and two, before his eagle at the 475m par-three third.

Veteran Fichardt sounded a warning in the morning about his challenge, firing a six-under 66 that included eight birdies, being joined on 11-under-par by Hollick, who posted a 67 that included a good little run of his own when he birdied four successive holes from the fifth to the eighth.

Anthony Michael also shot a 67 to lie fourth on 10-under-par, while first-round leader Jaco Ahlers slipped back a bit with a 71 that left him on eight-under.

Kieran Vincent was the leading Zimbabwean as his 67 lifted him to six-under-par, alongside South Africans JC Ritchie (69) and Combrinck Smit (70) in the tie for sixth.

Our DP World Lions, the #PrideOfJozi, continue to justify the adulation of their fans as they finished top of the Cricket South Africa T20 Challenge and will host their semi-final on Wednesday, following their clinical victory over the AET Tuskers in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The Lions comfortably saw off the Tuskers by seven wickets with two-and-a-half overs to spare at the DP World Wanderers Stadium on Sunday, taking them to 44 points from their 10 wins, and setting up a semi-final against the Titans at home on Wednesday.

Victory in that match will ensure our Pride host the final at the DP World Wanderers Stadium next Sunday, against either the Dolphins or the Warriors, who will play the other semi-final at Kingsmead on Thursday.

Our Pride won the toss against the Tuskers and sent the KwaZulu-Natal Inland team in to bat on a DP World Wanderers pitch that provided some assistance for the bowlers but nothing excessive. An excellent bowling and fielding effort saw the visitors restricted to 132 for nine.

Seamers Delano Potgieter and Lutho Sipamla set the tone up front by each grabbing a wicket, and then young leg-spinner Nqaba Peter continued his sensational introduction to franchise cricket as he ripped through the Tuskers middle-order with outstanding figures of three for 15 in his four overs.

Those three wickets came in the space of four deliveries as he dismissed Kyle Nipper for 30 off 25 balls and then trapped hard-hitting Keith Dudgeon lbw first ball. Peter then bowled Ntando Zuma for a duck two deliveries later with his trademark slider.

Sipamla (4-0-25-2) returned to take a second wicket and left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin also took two wickets, for just 19 runs in his four overs.

The writing was on the wall for the Tuskers as Zubayr Hamza and Rassie van der Dussen added 46 off 34 balls for the third wicket. Hamza, as usual, painted some beautiful pictures with his strokeplay as he scored 49 off 38 deliveries, before Van der Dussen splattered three sixes around the field in scoring 51 not out off 35 balls to see the Lions home. The exciting Mitchell van Buuren scored 23 not out off 19 deliveries as he and Van der Dussen added 53 unbeaten runs off 35 balls to seal the victory.

And now the Titans await in the semi-finals. The DP World Lions and their Gauteng neighbours have written the treatise on close finishes in this season’s T20 competition, our Pride winning by one run five weeks ago at the Wanderers, while Northerns won by two runs at the start of the weekend at SuperSport Park.

Sent in to bat at Centurion, a methodical effort by the DP World Lions saw them post 154 for eight. Reeza Hendricks was the pick of the batsmen with 48 off 35 balls, stroking five fours and a six. But he had good support from Temba Bavuma (21 off 13), Wiaan Mulder (25 off 13) and Potgieter (21 off 15).

A terrific bowling effort by the DP World Lions subjected the Titans to pressure throughout their innings, reducing them to 135 for eight after 18 overs.  But from there, the Titans managed to scramble a bye off the last ball to win.

Codi Yusuf (4-0-25-1), Mulder (4-0-24-1) and Peter (4-0-29-2) all produced fine displays with the ball.

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.