Van Tonder stays composed at the top

Daniel van Tonder. Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Daniel van Tonder is chasing his second victory in as many weeks on the Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour as he takes a three-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood.

Van Tonder produced a composed 66 at Pecanwood on Saturday to climb to 22-under par, with Australia’s Danny List his nearest challenger on 19-under following an impressive 62.

Van Tonder has been in rampant form over the last two weeks.

He won the SDC Open at Zebula last week and in the process reclaimed the No 1 position on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy while also taking the No 1 spot on the HotelPlanner Tour’s Road to Mallorca standings. A win on Sunday would be his fourth victory on the Sunshine Tour this season.

“It would be amazing to win again on Sunday. It would help a lot towards my goal of winning the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy and then I’m also chasing three wins on the HotelPlanner Tour which secures me a DP World Tour card,” he said.

But it did take him some time to get going on Saturday. He turned in level par after a frustrating front nine and then played the back nine superbly as he came home in 30.

“I had a good finish on the back nine. It took a while for me to get going on the front. I had a bit of bad luck on the front nine with a couple of holes and made that bogey on the par-five fifth. That was frustrating. But I just kept telling myself it will come sooner or later. I kept giving myself chances and then I used them on the back nine,” he said.

Australia’s List was one of those applying the pressure as Van Tonder worked through his frustrations on the front nine and surged through the field with his 62. List was born in Ghana and still feels a strong kinship with that country, which he hopes to also represent on Sunday.

“I definitely have some pretty big ambitions for Ghana golf and I’m trying to represent them as best I can out here. The Sunshine Tour is a brilliant Tour and the quality out here is so impressive. I didn’t know that Africa had this much depth in golf talent and it’s great to see Africa thriving in golf,” he said.

And Van Tonder clearly has goals of his own for Sunday. In his own inimitable way, he explained his focus.

“I’ve become a father for the first time and that means I now have two women in the house and that’s expensive. So I have no option but to win.”

Scores

194 - Daniel van Tonder 62 66 66

197 - Danny List 70 65 62

198 - Martin Vorster 65 65 68

199 - Andreas Halvorsen 65 71 63

200 - Kyle Barker 67 67 66

201 - Ben Stow 66 70 65, David Law 66 71 64, Tomas Gouveia 65 70 66, Albert Boneta 68 67 66, Felix Mory 65 70 66, Clement Sordet 69 66 66, Liam Nolan 68 66 67, Jovan Rebula 67 66 68, Sebastian Friedrichsen 65 67 69

202 - Michael Hollick 70 63 69

203 - Jens Fahrbring 68 67 68, Estiaan Conradie 66 69 68, Jean Hugo 67 67 69, Werner Deyzel 67 66 70, Nikhil Rama 64 68 71, Samuel Jones 70 68 65

204 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 68 68 68, Oihan Guillamoundeguy 65 70 69, Hennie O'Kennedy 71 66 67, Kyle De Beer 69 68 67, Nathan Legendre 67 67 70, Colin Nel 70 68 66, Bryce Easton 65 69 70, Euan Walker 67 71 66, Yurav Premlall 69 69 66

205 - Jaco Van Zyl 65 71 69, Christiaan Burke 69 67 69, Shaun Norris 69 67 69, Jason Roets 64 72 69, MJ Viljoen 74 63 68, John Gough 66 68 71, Jean Bekirian 66 72 67

206 - Gerhard Pepler 69 67 70, Peter Karmis 64 71 71, Neil Schietekat 66 71 69, Daniel Young 67 70 69, Matthis Besard 67 67 72, Baard Skogen 71 67 68, Luke Brown 64 74 68, Lyle Rowe 67 66 73, Ryan Lumsden 67 71 68

207 - Soren Broholt Lind 70 67 70, Dan Erickson 71 67 69

208 - Jonathan Broomhead 66 70 72, Jonathan Caldwell 69 68 71, Benjamin Follett-Smith 66 69 73, Robin Sciot-Siegrist 68 70 70

209 - Craig Ross 68 68 73, Dayne Moore 67 70 72, Hayden Hopewell 68 69 72, Keagan Thomas 67 70 72, Victor Pastor 67 70 72, Stefan Wears-Taylor 67 67 75, George Bloor 68 70 71, Wynand Dingle 66 72 71

210 - Joshua Berry 70 68 72, Ricky Hendler 70 68 72, Borja Virto 67 71 72

216 - Rhys Enoch 67 71 78

Missed the cut

139 - Max Kennedy 68 71, Lars van Meijel 71 68, Malcolm Mitchell 72 67, Jean-Paul Strydom 69 70, Joe Long 69 70, CJ du Plessis 67 72, Quim Vidal 69 70, Rupert Kaminski 68 71, Heinrich Bruiners 67 72, Jamie Rutherford 70 69, Frank Kennedy 68 71, Maxence Giboudot 68 71, Bastien Amat 68 71, Haydn Barron 69 70, Jastice Mashego 66 73

140 - Sentanio Minnie 71 69, Jacques Blaauw 72 68, Nick Carlson 71 69, Pieter Moolman 71 69, Lukas Nemecz 69 71, Altin van der Merwe 73 67, Aron Zemmer 71 69, Wilco Nienaber 73 67, Sebastien Gros 67 73, Lee Slattery 71 69, John Axelsen 67 73, Jeremy Freiburghaus 68 72, Rhys West 68 72, Lucas Vacarisas 70 70

141 - Michael Feuerstein 71 70, Hurly Long 74 67, Luke Jerling 72 69, Renato Paratore 70 71, Freddy Schott 72 69, Justin Walters 69 72, Maximilian Steinlechner 69 72, Vince van Veen 70 71, Hennie Otto 74 67, Fredrik From 71 70, Martin Rohwer 68 73, Davis Bryant 73 68, Robson Chinhoi 69 72, Slade Pickering 69 72

142 - Adri Arnaus 67 75, Stuart Krog 71 71, Christofer Rahm 68 74, Sean Cronje 71 71, Daan Huizing 70 72, Sebastian Garcia 69 73, Filippo Celli 69 73, Keenan Davidse 71 71, Per Langfors 69 73

143 - Ruan Korb 71 72, Christoffer Bring 72 71, Herman Loubser 73 70, Jack Hawksby 70 73, Louis Albertse 73 70, Matt Oshrine 70 73, Christofer Blomstrand 72 71, Bradley Bawden 69 74, Jabulane Mabilane 69 74

144 - Ilirian Zalli 73 71, Keelan van Wyk 70 74, Robin Petersson 72 72

145 - Alexander Settemsdal 75 70, Chris Paisley 70 75, JJ Senekal 73 72, David Meyers 73 72, Keith Horne 71 74

146 - JC Ritchie 74 72, Calum Fyfe 73 73, Callan Barrow 70 76, Anthony Michael 71 75, Dylan Naidoo 72 74, Santiago Tarrio 73 73, Rourke van der Spuy 72 74, Jacques P de Villiers 72 74, Therion Nel 71 75

147 - Oliver Bekker 73 74, Ryan van der Klis 73 74

148 - Dylan Mostert 73 75, Dermot Mcelroy 76 72, Jordan Duminy 75 73

149 - Palmer Jackson 78 71, Matthew Spacey 73 76

151 - Robert Moran 76 75, Combrinck Smit 71 80

153 - Keegan Mclachlan 78 75

160 - Irvin Mazibuko 77 83

RTD - Danie Van Niekerk 72 RTD RTD, Albert Venter 75 RTD RTD, Thabiso Ngcobo 69 RTD RTD