Groenewald leads at Observatory ahead of final round

Coert Groenewald carded a second round seven-under-par 65 at Observatory Golf Club and said a proper warm-up did the trick as he moved to 10-under for the week and climb to first on the leaderboard ahead of the final round.

“Today I got going a bit quicker,” said Groenewald. “Yesterday, the front nine and playing in the cold wasn’t that nice, so today obviously the weather was nice, a bit windy at the end of the day. But, I feel like I warmed up properly today.”

He was, naturally, pleased with his round in which he made nine birdies which were accompanied by dropped shots on 10 and the par-three 15. “Look, I’m really happy with the way things went today,” he said.

“I feel like I left two shots out there but you know you can’t be too greedy. I feel like I played really well today.” And, while he’s at the summit of the leaderboard on moving day, Groenewald refuses to get carried away because of Wednesday’s performance.

“I try not to think about it too much,” he said of the possibility of him going all the way to winning come Thursday. “So, tomorrow I will just go out there and do my own thing and see.”

It will be a tough final round out there because lurking dangerously – and a shot behind – is Jeff Inglis who shot a flawless six-under-par 66 to move to second on nine-under for the week. He too credits the much-improved weather for carding such a low score, saying with the wind blowing a lot less in round two, all he had to worry about was hitting good shots and making the putts.

Cautious of the reality of the golf game where things could change pretty quickly, Inglis, happy as he is with his second round, will not count his chickens until the eggs hatch. “It’s always a good feeling to be in contention,” he said. “But, I mean, we have another day to go so I will just go out there and enjoy this course.”

Anton Haig also signed for a 66 to move to third on the leaderboard while Botswana’s Stuart Smith and overnight leader Jacquin Hess share fourth on five-under-par. Pieter Kruger takes up the sixth spot on the leaderboard on four-under with Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Bennie van der Merwe, Antonio Rosado, Omar Sandys and Greg Bentley all tied for seventh at three-under-par for the week.

With the course at Observatory seemingly allowing for some really low scores, the final round is sure to be a scintillating affair.