Ruan Conradie shot a season’s-best 65 to take a four-shot lead into the final day of the IGT Challenge Tour’s Wingate Challenge at his home course on Tuesday.
It’s been less than a week since the Pretoria rookie broke through for his maiden professional title in the Services Challenge, and the seven-under par effort at Wingate Park Country Club on Tuesday paved the way for a fourth victory on the country’s premier development golf circuit.
The 21-year-old began the day one off the pace, but made an early move with an eagle at the par five second and birdie at the third to leapfrog Tristen Strydom for the lead. He added another birdie at nine and made four more after the turn to move to 13-under-par 131.
‘Getting an eagle at the second hole put a smile on my face right at the beginning of my round,’ said the Wanna Be A Champion Academy player. ‘I hit an eight iron in and it stopped four feet behind the hole and putting that putt away really set the tone for the round.
‘I played pretty good out there. I hit a lot of fairways and greens and I tried to play smart on the par fives. If you can birdie those, you can easily shoot a low score. Both nines were solid, except for a soft bogey at 10.
‘The front nine is slightly trickier than the back nine, so all you want to do after a four under front nine is to play shot for shot and not think about the score on the way home. I left some three- to four-foot birdie chances out there, but gave myself a lot of birdie putts, too, and took advantage when the chance came my way.’
Strydom, chasing his fifth IGT Challenge Tour title, had five birdies and an eagle at the par five 15th on his card and was still in a buoyant mood, despite shooting 70.
‘I had a double at the ninth and dropped a couple on the back nine, but I still played some solid golf,’ he said. ‘No reason to feel glum; I live to fight another day.’
Maritz Wessels birdied 18 for 67 to finish in third on his own, three shots clear of Conradie’s brother Estiaan and fellow Pretoria golfers Ruan Korb and Paul Boshoff. The younger Conradie fired a 66, Korb shot 71 and Boshoff returned a 69.
Meanwhile Wingate Park Country Club golf course superintendent Pieter Cooper will have to take another day off after making the cut. The Gauteng North mid-amateur followed an opening 75 with a 71 to pull within two shots of his 19-year-old amateur son, JP Cooper, who carded successive rounds of 72 at his home course to tie for 14th at 144.
Picture of Conradie courtesy of CJ du Plooy
Second Round Scores
All competitors SA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA
131 – Ruan Conradie 66 65
135 – Tristen Strydom 65 70
136 – Maritz Wessels 69 67
139 – Ruan Korb 68 71, Estiaan Conradie 73 66, Paul Boshoff 70 69
141 – Theunis Bezuidenhout AMA 72 69
142 – Jacques Cloete AMA 75 67, Keaton Slatter AMA 74 68, Quintin Crause 70 72
143 – Donald Thompson AMA 71 72, Kyle Barker 72 71, Ruhan van Dijk AMA 70 73
144 – JP Cooper AMA 72 72, Louis Albertse AMA 69 75, Jason Roets 73 71, Mpho Mafishe 75 69, Xander Basson AMA 71 73, Teboho Sefatsa 73 71
146 – Ivanna Samu 67 79, Tertius van den Berg 73 73, Pieter Cooper AMA 75 71, Deon Bredenkamp 75 71
147 – Dawid Opperman AMA 74 73, Leon Visser AMA 73 74, Leon Vorster AMA 76 71, Shaun van Tonder 73 74, Arno Pretorius AMA 71 76
148 – Jade Buitendag 71 77, Peetie van der Merwe AMA 72 76
151 – Luke Brown AMA 76 75, Michael Schutz 73 78
152 – Thabi Ngcobo 76 76, Martin Kraft AMA 78 74, Christopher van der Merwe AMA 78 74, Luke Kelly 76 76, Divan Marais 81 71
153 – Duan Nagel AMA 78 75, Terry Smith 78 75, Edwin Stafford AMA 76 77, Ivan Mare AMA 77 76, Matthew Vogel 80 73, Michael Pienaar AMA 75 78
154 – NJ van der Walt AMA 77 77, David Mofokeng (LSO) 79 75
Missed the cut:
155 – Jan-Louis Nel AMA 77 78, Bryce Myburgh 76 79
156 – Eric Park (KOR) 78 78, Jordan Prytz AMA 76 80, Eric Nel AMA 79 77
157 – Gareth Anderson AMA 83 74
158 – Albert Visser 78 80, Gary Jutzen AMA 82 76
159 – Dylan Morton AMA 79 80
161 – Alwyn Vorster 78 83
162 – Jaco Meyer 83 79, Nic Watson AMA 82 80
164 – Jason Reynolds AMA 80 84
165 – Alex Krebs AMA 82 83, Keagan Martin AMA 80 85, Marcus Smal AMA 84 81
166 – Jaco van der Merwe AMA 84 82
168 – Gary Groenewald AMA 81 87
