Patience leads to brilliant finish for Davidse at Royal Swazi Spa Challenge

[Friday, August 3, 2018 06:43:28]

After patiently grinding his way through the day on Thursday, Keenan Davidse burst through with a five-hole closing sequence of eagle-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to move into a share of the lead in the Royal Swazi Spa Challenge.

He finished up with an eight-under-par 64 to move to 10-under-par at the halfway mark. He shared the lead with Andre de Decker, who carded a scrapping five-under 67 ahead of the final round of the R800,000 54-hole tournament.

It didn’t start as impressively as it finished for Davidse. “My caddie told me the whole day just to stay patient and relax,” he said. “In fact, talking with one of my sponsors the other day, he told me just to take a step back and enjoy life. So after making the bogey on my second hole, I thought about that the whole time. I made a few pars, made eagle on 12 and then I was one-under and I just kept moving forward.

“On my back nine, I made two eagles and three birdies in the last five holes. It was because I stayed patient. I’ve been out here on tour for a while, so I know what I need to do. It’s nice to be back on the leaderboard, and I hope I can get the job done.”

That finish by Davidse was in stark contrast to the round by De Decker. “I struggled a lot this round,” said the left-hander. “My iron-play was a little shaky and I made a few errors out there, but mentally I hung tough and told myself there’s a lot of scoring opportunities.”

De Decker followed a pair of bogeys on the front nine with an eagle on each occasion to keep things on track. “To make those two eagles was big, especially with padding them with bogeys either side, but that really did make the scorecard look prettier,” he said.

He made another bogey on the 14th, and once again, he was able to atone with a birdie on the 15th, and didn’t manage to pick up any more shots on the final three holes, including the par-five 17th. “I feel like I’ve brought my B-minus game,” he said. “Maybe we can bring the A-game out tomorrow. That doesn’t sound really humble, but it was a struggle.”

The leading pair had a one-stroke edge over Louis de Jager who fired a five-under 67 to finish nine-under after 36 holes.

A further stroke back were Thriston Lawrence after his eight-under, Michael Palmer who fired a five-under, and Michael Hollick who carded a 66.

For the final round, it’s going to be a sprint for the finish line. Maybe De Decker has the best approach. “You just try and birdie every hole,” he said.

Scores:

134 - Keenan Davidse 70 64, Andre De Decker 67 67

135 - Louis de Jager 68 67

136 - Thriston Lawrence 72 64, Michael Palmer 69 67, Michael Hollick 70 66

137 - Daniel van Tonder 67 70, Jean Hugo 72 65

138 - Ruan de Smidt 72 66, Titch Moore 70 68, Chris Cannon 70 68, Merrick Bremner 71 67, Shaun Norris 68 70, Christiaan Basson 68 70

139 - Colin Nel 68 71, Riekus Nortje 72 67, Toto Thimba 74 65, Jake Redman 73 66, Theunis Bezuidenhout 68 71, Tyrone Ryan 70 69, Keith Horne 72 67, Jared Harvey 71 68, Rourke van der Spuy 69 70, JJ Senekal 69 70, Daniel Greene 72 67

140 - Wayne Stroebel 71 69, Jacquin Hess 73 67, Tyrone Ferreira 70 70, Mark Williams 68 72, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 67 73, Scott Campbell 73 67, JC Ritchie 72 68

141 - Marthin Scheepers 70 71, Duane Keun 73 68, Breyten Meyer 69 72, Jake Roos 70 71, Tyler Hogarty 71 70, Chris Swanepoel 74 67, Heinrich Bruiners 71 70, James Pennington 72 69, Doug McGuigan 65 76, Ulrich van den Berg 70 71, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 70, Anton Haig 70 71

Missed the cut:-

142 - Wallie Coetsee 75 67, Omar Sandys 70 72, Ockie Strydom 71 71

143 - Wynand Dingle 69 74, Martin Rohwer 76 67, CJ du Plessis 75 68, Fredrik From 70 73, Allister de Kock 74 69, Erhard Lambrechts 67 76, Derick Petersen 69 74, Neil Schietekat 72 71, Philip Geerts 72 71, Callum Mowat 72 71, Stefan Engell Andersen 72 71, Altaaf Bux 70 73

144 - Herman Loubser 72 72, Pieter Moolman 73 71, Luke Jerling 74 70, Aubrey Beckley 72 72, Lyle Rowe 70 74, Alex Haindl 68 76, Teboho Sefatsa 73 71, Roberto Lupini 69 75, Meshack Zwane 70 74

145 - Rhys West 75 70, Irvin Mazibuko 73 72, Estiaan Conradie 75 70, Desne Van Den Bergh 74 71, Franklin Manchest 75 70, Andre Nel 75 70, Thabang Simon 71 74, Louis Albertse 72 73, Allan Versfeld 77 68

146 - Michael Schutz 74 72, Mark Murless 74 72, Jonathan Agren 77 69, Teaghan Gauche 70 76

147 - Ruan Conradie 75 72, Ryan Tipping 74 73, Basil Wright 75 72, Vaughn Groenewald 71 76, Marc Cayeux 73 74

148 - Yubin Jung 75 73, Bradford Vaughan 79 69, MJ Viljoen 73 75, Kyle McClatchie 77 71, Madalitso Muthiya 79 69, Jacques P de Villiers 76 72

149 - Jaco Prinsloo 74 75, David McIntyre 76 73, Gideon van der Vyver 80 69

151 - Makhetha Mazibuko 79 72, Coert Groenewald 72 79, Jade Buitendag 74 77, Adriel Poonan 75 76, Jason Smith 78 73, Damon Stephenson 77 74, Trevor Fisher Jnr 74 77

152 - Jabulane Mabilane 69 83

153 - Keelan Africa 81 72, Victor Lange 76 77

155 - Jason Viljoen 76 79

156 - Thabo Moraba 77 79

159 - Stephen Ferreira 83 76

 Credit: The Sunshine Tour


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