De Smidt maintains Big Easy lead at Akasia Golf Club

Ruan de Smidt produced a hard-fought one-under-par 71 in round two of the Betway Big Easy Tour 5 at Akasia Golf Club, taking his total to seven-under and two shots clear of England’s Daniel Smith ahead of the final round.

Knowing that it was always going to be a challenge backing up his bogey-free opening round of 66, De Smidt was ready for the challenge. Things proved challenging indeed on day two as strong winds kept gusting for the entire second round in Pretoria.

Staring his second round from the 10th tee and after making four straight pars, De Smidt was eventually rewarded with an eagle on the par-five 14th and a birdie on the next hole which is also playing as a par-five. He turned in 34 and bogey-free but things would change around the turn.

His back nine 37 consisted of bogeys on the fourth, seventh and ninth hole, while a solitary birdie made it onto his card on the par-five eighth hole.

“On the front nine, I hit the ball terribly and managed to go three-under,” noted De Smidt. “And then back nine, I started hitting it much better but then the putter kind of left me and I am bit disappointed with the finish but it was a tough day. All in all, it was not too bad.

“I think I need to just go and figure out the putter really quick. This morning, I hit it really badly but on the back nine, I found my swing again. So, I just need to have the swing tomorrow and a little bit of a putting stroke.”

Smith’s second-round 69 catapulted him to second on the leaderboard on a total of five-under. His round was characterised by four birdies, an eagle and three dropped shots as the Englishman played himself into contention once more.

“It was very windy,” Smith remarked. “You had to be weary of your distances into the green because they all slope back to front, so if you go past the green, you’ve got no putt coming back. I managed to keep it under the hole a few times and hit a couple of par-fives in two, so it was good.

“Hopefully, I can get over the line tomorrow but the key is to keep putting yourself in the mix because you never know what could happen.”

Toto Thimba Jnr also came in with a score of 69 to get to four-under for the week and within touching distance of De Smidt’s lead. Also signing for 69 on moving day was Christian Kriek and he shares fourth with Jordan Duminy who shot 73 on Thursday.

Rhys Enoch is in a four-way share of sixth at two-under-par while Vaughn van Deventer is solo 10th going to the final round.

The Betway Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit and enjoys the support of the legendary Ernie Els, among other patrons.

Scores

137 - Ruan de Smidt 66 71

139 - Daniel Smith 70 69

140 - Toto Thimba Jnr 71 69

141 - Christian Kriek 72 69

141 - Jordan Duminy 68 73

142 - Rhys Enoch 72 70

142 - Jacques Van der Merwe 72 70, Jordan Wessels 72 70, Wandre Snyman 69 73

143 - Vaughn van Deventer 70 73

144 - Werner Deyzel 68 76

144 - Jaco Anderson 71 73, Philip Geerts 71 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 70 74, Ruben Van Der Berg 73 71

145 - Noel Anderson 70 75

145 - Keagan Crosbie 73 72, Luke Joy 72 73, Keelan Africa 69 76, Travis Ladner 71 74, Ethan Gough 74 71

146 - Jaden Deltel 72 74

146 - Louis Liebenberg 75 71, Romano Saincic 71 75, Kian Coetzer 69 77, Luke Truter 73 73, Tristan Leonard 74 72, Max Nicholls 76 70, Minjun Heo 73 73

147 - Jan-Hendrik Nieuwoudt 71 76

147 - Jastice Mashego 73 74, Ruan Groenewald 75 72, Jacquin Hess 71 76, Thabiso Ngcobo 71 76, Leon van der Walt 77 70, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 75 72, Hannes Strooh 75 72, Jonathan Wilsenach 73 74, Sentanio Minnie 73 74, Wiehan Van der Walt 73 74

Missed the cut

148 - Matthew Bennett 71 77

148 - Sean Cronje 72 76, Drikus Joubert 72 76, Franklin Manchest 73 75, Brandon-Lee Geere 76 72, Leon Visser 68 80, Joshua Van der Wath 70 78

149 - Steven Le Roux 78 71

149 - Shaheed Patel 77 72, Kyle Kistensamy 75 74, Jason Froneman 78 71, TJ Sandys 73 76, Brandon Gildenhuys 77 72, Marcel Steyn Scholtz 78 71, LB Boshoff 72 77, Austin Cherichella 77 72, Manav Mohanlal 74 75

150 - Carl Mwale 73 77

150 - Ethan Govender 73 77, Daniel Palmquist 76 74, Alphius Kelapile 77 73, Kael Strydom 75 75, Kass Muller 74 76, Christopher Bagnall 76 74, Mandla Dlamini Jnr 72 78

151 - Sean Howell 73 78

151 - Merrick Bremner 78 73, Jonathan Ackerman 76 75, Francois van Staden 75 76, Omar Sandys 77 74, Josh Hirsch 76 75, Umar Davids 76 75

152 - Christiaan Pretorius 73 79

152 - Khanya Mkhize 79 73, Slade Pickering 78 74

153 - Brandon-Jude Rennie 74 79

153 - Lwazi Gqira 76 77, Matthew Dennis 72 81, Matthew Mortimer 75 78, Karabo Mokoena 76 77

155 - Maheshan Naidoo 76 79

156 - Shaydon Johnson 75 81

156 - Thabang Simon 79 77, James Truter 73 83, Eric Wowor 75 81

157 - Jarryd Govender 75 82

158 - Muhammad Dadoo 82 76

159 - Richard Kruger 77 82

160 - Gabriel Cruz 78 82

161 - Yusuf Dadoo 82 79

RTD - Ricco Motsa 75 RTD

DSQ - Andrew Proctor DSQ DSQ, Tumelo Molloyi 77 DSQ