GOLF NEWS - Benoni junior Ryan van Velzen finished a yawning seven shots ahead of reigning Amateur champion James Sugrue from Ireland and compatriot Martin Vorster at the 36-hole mark of the African Amateur Stroke Play Championship.
The 18-year-old eagled the 18th at Leopard Creek for a second day in a row to post a six-under-par 66 on Tuesday that kept him in the top spot at 14-under 130.
Teeing off on the first in the second round, he cruised his way to five-under without a dropped shot in sight up to the 15th hole. He made his only bogey of the day on the challenging par-three 16th, and more than redeemed himself with that eagle which exemplified his approach to playing the course which can seem intimidating.
“I’m not really used to shooting these kinds of scores,” he said. “I can do it in social rounds, but not too often in tournaments. But I’m just not making mistakes at the moment and I’m really happy with the way I’m playing.”
His seven-stroke lead at the halfway mark was assisted by two of the players who looked as if they could stay in touch with him.
Mallow’s Sugrue got his second round to seven-under through 16 holes and 10-under for the tournament. Then he made a triple-bogey seven on the eighth and signed off with a 68 for a share of second at seven-under.
“I played very, very well for 17 holes,” he said. “Even when I made the triple, I thought I hit it a good way down there. It just crept into the bunker. I thought I hit an okay approach and it rolled into the bunker. I won’t talk about the rest,” he added of the times the ball rolled off the front of the green before he could hole it.”
The other player who could have been closer was countryman Christo Lamprecht, who made double-bogey on 16 before coming home on one-under 71 for the round and six-under for the tournament.
He was in fourth place on his own after his round.
“I played pretty nicely today,” said the Southern Cape golfer. “Yesterday was just better scoring, but I felt like I managed to play really good golf. I was three-under with three holes to go and hit just one bad shot – the first really bad shot of the week – and I got punished for it.”
The man who did play himself into a share of second was Toyota Junior Golf World Cup captain Martin Vorster.
The GolfRSA National Squad member carded the second-best round of the day behind Van Velzen with his five-under 67. He went bogey-free to the turn at 18, and made four more on his way home.
There were bogeys on three and seven which left him further back from the lead than he would have liked. “I played really solid from tee to green,” said Voster. “The putter was a bit cold in the beginning, but it got hot towards the end. I’m going to have to go a bit lower. I like chasing and knowing that I need birdies to catch up.”
He will have it all to do, because Van Velzen is going to take the same approach. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and shoot another low one tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile Team South Africa Juniors pulled four shots clear in the 54-hole Team Competition, thanks to Van Velzen anchoring the young side for a second day running. New cap Christiaan Maas contributed 70 and Jordan Duminy 74 for a total of 210 that moved the team to 12-under 420.
Team South Africa share second on four-under on 428 with defending champions England, with Team Ireland a further two shots back. Team Sweden rounds out the top five on one-over 433.
Second Round Scores
130 Ryan van Velzen 64 66
137 Martin Vorster 70 67; James Sugrue IRL 69 68
138 Christo Lamprecht Jnr 67 71
140 Liam van Deventer 71 69; Robin Williams GBR 70 70
141 Connor Wilson SCO 73 68; Haider Hussain ENG 70 71
142 Joseph Long GBR 74 68; Rigardt Albertse 71 71; Algot Kleen SWE 68 74
143 Gregory Mckay 72 71; Jordan Duminy 69 74
145 Olly Huggins GBR 76 69; Adam Wallin SWE 72 73
146 Luca Filippi 75 71; Caolan Rafferty IRL 74 72; Casey Jarvis 72 74; Gustav Andersson SWE 70 76
147 Christiaan Maas 77 70; Samuel Simpson 76 71; Tom Vaillant FRA 75 72; Martin Couvra FRA 75 72; Lewis Irvine SCO 74 73; Nikhil Gopal 73 74; Yurav Premlall 72 75
148 James Wilson SCO 77 71; Tom Mckibbin IRL 75 73; Jake Bolton ENG 75 73; Altin van der Merwe 73 75
149 Peter Handcock GBR 75 74; Aurelien Douce FRA 73 76; Nikhil Rama 73 76
150 Sam Bairstow ENG 79 71; Hugo Thyr SWE 79 71; Ayden Senger 78 72; Keagan Thomas 78 72; Darren Howie SCO 77 73; Pierre Pellegrin 74 76; Siyanda Mwandla 74 76; Theo Boulet FRA 73 77
151 Rowan Leister IRL 79 72
152 Nicolas Muller FRA 75 77; James Biggs ENG 75 77; Drikus Joubert 75 77; Tiarnan McLarnon IRL 75 77; Kyle de Beer 74 78
153 Christiaan Burke 82 71; Francois van der Walt 80 73; Andrew Williamson 76 77
154 Wilmer Edero SWE 80 74; Elliot Anger FRA 76 78; Hugo Archer FRA 75 79; Therion Nel 75 79; Armand van Dyk 75 79; Matthew Mcclean IRL 72 82
155 Tyran Snyders 78 77; Lucas Abrial FRA 77 78; Rasmus Jonasson SWE 77 78; Stuart Easton SCO 76 79; Jay Pandya IND 74 81
156 Robert Brazill IRL 84 72; Jordan Burnand 79 77; Rakesh Channoo MRI 79 77; Stephen Roger SCO 78 78; Joe Harvey GBR 77 79; Oliver Goldhill 75 81
157 Oliver Brown 83 74
158 Aneurin Gounden 75 83
159 Rohan Dholepatil IND 83 76; Luhan Bester 82 77; Daniel Nduva 81 78
161 Oswin Schlenkrich 82 79; Keith Egan IRL 81 80
163 Anirudh Kamireddypalli IND 84 79
164 Promise Sombrero ZIM 85 79
165 Gregg Gilson 84 81; Rasheed Mohamed ZIM 83 82
166 Morton Kombai 81 85; Florent Toulet 80 86
167 Graeme Derek Lewis 87 80
168 Mandla Dlamini 82 86
177 Dil Thomas 90 87
WD Monty Scowsill ENG
Round 2 Team Competition Scores
(Format: Best 3 scores of 4 to count)
420 Team South Africa Juniors 210 Ryan van Velzen 64 Jordan Duminy 69 Christiaan Maas 77; 210 Ryan van Velzen 66 Christiaan Maas 70 Jordan Duminy 74
428 Team England 219 Robin Williams 70 Joseph Long 74 Jake Bolton 75; 209 Joseph Long 68 Robin Williams 70 Sam Bairstow 71
428 Team South Africa 216 Martin Vorster 70 Casey Jarvis 72 Kyle de Beer 74; 212 Martin Vorster 67 Samuel Simpson 71 Casey Jarvis 74
430 Team Ireland 1 218 James Sugrue 69 Caolan Rafferty 74 Tom Mckibbin 75; 212 James Sugrue 68 Rowan Leister 72 Caolan Rafferty 72
433 Team Sweden 1 210 Algot Kleen 68 Gustav Andersson 70 Adam Wallin 72; 223 Adam Wallin 73 Algot Kleen 74 Gustav Andersson 76
444 Team Scotland 227 Lewis Irvine 74 Stuart Easton 76 James Wilson 77; 217 James Wilson 71 Lewis Irvine 73 Darren Howie 73
451 Team France 2 224 Theo Boulet 73 Martin Couvra 75 Elliot Anger 76; 227 Martin Couvra 72 Theo Boulet 77 Elliot Anger 78
453 Team France 1 225 Hugo Archer 75 Nicolas Muller 75 Tom Vaillant 75; 228 Tom Vaillant 72 Nicolas Muller 77 Hugo Archer 79
457 Team Ireland 2 228 Matthew Mcclean 72 Tiarnan McLarnon 75 Keith Egan 81; 229 Robert Brazill 72 Tiarnan McLarnon 77 Keith Egan 80
459 Team Sweden 2 236 Rasmus Jonasson 77 Hugo Thyr 79 Wilmer Edero 80; 223 Hugo Thyr 71 Wilmer Edero 74 Rasmus Jonasson 78
472 Team Mauritius 233 Pierre Pellegrin 74 Rakesh Channoo 79 Florent Toulet 80; 239 Pierre Pellegrin 76 Rakesh Channoo 77 Florent Toulet 86
477 Team India 241 Jay Pandya 74 Rohan Dholepatil 83 Anirudh Kamireddypalli 84; 236 Rohan Dholepatil 76 Anirudh Kamireddypalli 79 Jay Pandya 81
490 Team Zimbabwe 249 Morton Kombai 81 Rasheed Mohamed 83 Promise Sombrero 85; 241 Promise Sombrero 79 Graeme Derek Lewis 80 Rasheed Mohamed 82
