Porteous takes sole lead into weekend of Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player

[Friday, January 23, 2026 19:13:23]

Haydn Porteous. (Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)

Haydn Porteous held onto his top spot on the leaderboard in the Cell C Challenge in Honour of Gary Player and will take a three-stroke lead into the weekend at Killarney Country Club.

Porteous shared the first-round lead with a 64 and then distanced himself from the pack with another 64 on Friday to climb to 12 under par overall.

It was another flawless performance from Porteous who has yet to drop a shot in 36 holes.

His nearest challenger is England’s Joe Long who signed for a 63 on Friday to hit the halfway mark at nine under par.

Zimbabwe’s David Amm and Benjamin Follett-Smith, and the South African duo of Nikhil Rama and Herman Loubser are currently tied third on eight under par.

Porteous has continued to ride the momentum of a big 2025 in which he made his long-awaited return to the winner’s circle with his victory in the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Gowrie Farm where he was given an invitation by the Sunshine Tour and made the most of the opportunity.

“The win at Gowrie Farm was an awesome reboot for my career. For a long time I’ve battled with confidence and feeling like I’m moving in the right direction. Now for the first time in my career, I feel like I’m putting some big blocks down and building on them,” he said.

He also had the benefit of playing in a Blu Label Bushveld Tour event at Killarney Country Club the week before this Sunshine Tour event. Porteous missed the cut in that event with rounds of 75 and 69 and says it was a timely wake-up call for him.

“I realised I had a bit of rust in my game so I did some hard work towards the end of that week and leading up to this event, and it looks like that work has paid off.”

But arguably the biggest change in his game has come off the fairways.

“You know, getting married and welcoming our baby girl who is now coming up to four weeks old – you start to realise what life’s all about and that’s hopefully going to show in my game.”

SCORES

128 - Haydn Porteous 64 64
131 - Joe Long 68 63
132 - David Amm 65 67
132 - Nikhil Rama 66 66, Benjamin Follett-Smith 67 65, Herman Loubser 67 65
134 - Justin Walters 66 68
134 - Tyran Snyders 64 70, Karabo Mokoena 67 67, Jack Hawksby 67 67, Jason Roets 65 69
135 - James Mack 69 66
135 - Jordan Burnand 69 66, Jaco Ahlers 68 67, Keagan Thomas 72 63, Robson Chinhoi 65 70, Yurav Premlall 66 69, Makhetha Mazibuko 68 67
136 - Stefan Wears-Taylor 68 68
136 - Luke Brown 68 68, Thomas Spreadborough 67 69
137 - Tristen Strydom 67 70
137 - Kieron van Wyk 68 69, Benjamin Van Wyk 72 65, Wynand Dingle 70 67, Jonathan Broomhead 69 68
138 - Conner Mackenzie 66 72
138 - Jaco Prinsloo 71 67, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 69, Gerhard Pepler 68 70, Stals Swart 67 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 67 71, Christian Kriek 67 71, Hayden Griffiths 70 68, Altin van der Merwe 71 67, Estiaan Conradie 69 69, MJ Viljoen 66 72, Louis Albertse 67 71, Deon Germishuys 65 73, Tomas Gana 67 71, Matthew Spacey 68 70, Mikkel Antonsen 69 69, Pierre Pellegrin 69 69
139 - Stuart Krog 68 71
139 - Martin Rohwer 67 72, Rowan Lester 67 72, Stephen Ferreira 73 66, Joe Knox 67 72, Franklin Manchest 72 67, Xander Basson 65 74, Ryan Van Velzen 68 71, Kyle De Beer 67 72, Malcolm Mitchell 71 68, Graham van der Merwe 69 70, Pierre Viallaneix 65 74

 

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