The Wanna Be A Champion stable-mates took quite diverse routes at Kyalami Country Club to arrive at seven under 137.
The experienced Turner carded an eagle and a brace of birdies on the front nine and ended a run of eight straight pars on the homeward loop with a birdie finish. The amateur, meanwhile, hit less than 50 percent of the fairways, but rode a hot putter to four under 68.
Were it not for a trio of bogeys on the front nine, Turner might have claimed the outright lead but the 28-year-old was nevertheless pleased with his day’s work.
“It’s been a long while since I’ve been able to walk off a course and say I had a really great time out there,” said Turner.
“I took a stumble into a six foot hole during an event in Zambia last year. Since then, I’ve battled to get over a grade two ligament tear in my ankle and a neck injury. I had hoped to get back on the Sunshine Tour via the Big Easy Tour, but I didn’t play well at all.
“So I’ve got to go back to Q-School in March. Everything left me in a bad head space, so I took a step back and decided to change some things. I started seeing a new sports phycologist, Greyling Viljoen, and he has helped me to get more positive out on the golf course.
“I used to play mostly on feeling as an amateur, but since I turned pro, I got more and more technical about the game. Every shot I hit had to be technically perfect, so I decided to just go back to playing on feeling and I’m hitting the ball a lot freer again.
“My game plan coming into this week was to try and put it in the right spots to give myself chances, because if I do it enough times, putts are bound to drop. And I dialled back on the aggression, too, and it all seems to be falling into place for me again.”
Co-leader Kruse put himself in a strong position to shoot for a second victory on the country’s premier golf development circuit this season, despite having a horrendous day off the tee.
The 20-year-old Ebotse Challenge winner interrupted a run of straight pars on the front nine with a lone birdie at the fourth and notched another four birdies coming home.
“I struggled with back spasms throughout the rounds, so I hit the ball horribly, but the putter was red-hot,” said Kruse, who hit only six fairways and 11 greens.
“I putted unbelievably well. I had 21 putts, which is probably the best putting round of my life. My short game was incredible. I must give my caddy Michael de Jongh some credit, though, because he kept me in a very positive frame of mind out there.
“It was really frustrating, having to scramble like that, but I am very pleased that my short game stood up under pressure. It’s great to be in contention, especially on the Race to Q-School series; the experience and the pressure playing in the last match is really good for my preparation.”
First round pacesetter David McIntyre returned a 72 to finish one off the pace and Sheldon Steyn from Zimbabwe carded a 69 to get within two shots of the leaders.
A trio players lag three off the pace, including Damian Naicker (72), Jacques du Villiers (69) and KwaZulu-Natal amateur Matt Saulez (70), while Eric Nel produced a low round of the day 67 to move into joint eighth at three-under-par 141.
Second Round Scores
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA
137 - Phillip Kruse AMA 69 68, Justin Turner 67 70
138 - David McIntyre AMA 66 72
139 - Sheldon Steyn (ZIM) 70 69
140 - Jacques De Villiers 71 69, Matt Saulez AMA 70 70, Damian Naicker 68 72
141 - Eric Nel AMA 74 67, Kyle McClatchie AMA 71 70
142 - Matthew Spacey 70 72
143 - Clinton Grobler 72 71, Johary Raveloarison (MDG) 72 71
144 - Paul Boshoff AMA 75 69, Duane Keun 72 72, Francois Coetzee 73 71, Matt Wollmann (ZIM) 70 74
145 - Ruan Korb AMA 71 74, Bryce McCabe 70 75, Combrinck Smit AMA 71 74
146 - Conway Kunneke 76 70, Angus Ellis-Cole AMA 69 77, David Ashley (ENG) 72 74
147 - Ruhan Van Dijk AMA 72 75, Paul De Beer 74 73, Kyle Barker 72 75, Werner Van Wyk 78 69
148 - Stephan De Beer 74 74, Dean O'Riley 75 73
149 - Bertine Strauss 78 71, Richard Tsai AMA 77 72, Albert Venter AMA 74 75, Dongkwan Kim (KOR) 77 72
150 - Ivanna Samu AMA 76 74, Francesca Cuturi 78 72, Keegan Steyn AMA 73 77, David Nortje AMA 75 75, Michael Kok AMA 77 73
151 - Stephan Erasmus AMA 78 73, Bryce Myburgh 78 73, Matthew Hands AMA 76 75, Sean Coomer AMA 74 77, Matthew Vogel 74 77, Calvin Caldeira 78 73
152 - Leon Visser AMA 78 74, Andrew Carlsson AMA 76 76, Shaun Bernstein AMA 81 71, CJ Levey 75 77
153 - Philip Geerts AMA (ITA) 76 77
154 - Tristan Nel AMA 76 78, Wayne du Toit 75 79, Dylan Docherty 74 80, Byron Garvie 78 76, Owen Grobler 75 79, Michael Faasen AMA 76 78
155 - Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 78 77, Phillip Montgomery 79 76, Keaton Slatter AMA 74 81, Bradley Van Biljon AMA 81 74
156 - WM Coetzee AMA 83 73, Louis Albertse AMA 80 76, Morne Du Plessis AMA 78 78
Missed the cut:-
157 - Michael Schutz 82 75, Maritz Wessels 75 82, Chris Haefele 80 77, Daniel Joubert AMA 76 81
158 - Ruan Enslin AMA 77 81, Jaco Linde AMA 73 85
159 - Sam Metcalfe AMA 83 76, Jason Ackerman AMA 82 77, Dean Berkowitz AMA 80 79, Jihwan Yeom AMA 81 78, Cameron Gunning 82 77, Steven Le Roux AMA 80 79
160 - Werner Lourens 79 81
162 - Armand Azar AMA 83 79
163 - David Schultz AMA 79 84, Terence Archibald AMA 79 84, Mohammed Ismail AMA 82 81, Marais Visagie 78 85
164 - Gary Jutzen AMA 85 79
165 - Dwayne Coetzee 86 79, Duan Nagel AMA 90 75
168 - Shaun Mackeown AMA 86 82, Gareth Anderson AMA 88 80
169 - Danel Van Den Berg AMA 88 81
170 - Adam Baker AMA 83 87
172 - Gustav Erasmus 86 86, Nash De Klerk AMA 88 84
176 - Rancan Meyer AMA 87 89
195 - Haydon Heres AMA 100 95
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
