NATIONAL NEWS - NJ Arnoldi’s fine form at Centurion Country Club continued as the Silver Lakes golfer stretched his overnight lead to four shots in round two of the Race to Q-School #9.
After setting the first round target with a flawless nine-under-par 63, Arnoldi fired a 66 on Tuesday to set the 36-hole target at 15-under-par 129.
Dean O’Riley made a strong case for a third title this season with a superb 65 that included a trio of birdies on the front nine, a single drop at 10 and four successive birdies from the 11th.
Wingate Park amateur Fanie Wolmarans offset a double bogey at six with nine birdies to match O’Riley’s 65 for a share of second at 11 under.
Clayton Mansfield and Malcolm Mitchell posted respective rounds of 68 and 65 and the KwaZulu-Natal amateur pair will start Wednesday’s final round six off the pace.
Arnoldi picked up four birdies on his outward loop and surrendered a lone shot at the par four sixth among three more gains coming home.
Although he didn’t replicate the fireworks of his opening gambit, but the 24-year-old Tshwane native was nevertheless pleased to protect his lead and open up a gap on the field.
“Unfortunately I left the ball short with my approach at sixth and I didn’t execute a pretty easy up-and-down to save par,” he said. “I hit the chip shot too firmly and the ball shot past the pin and I missed the return putt for par.
“Aside from that one glitch on my card, I was flawless through the first nine holes, but I must admit that I lost a bit of focus on the back nine. It was incredibly hot and I hit a couple of lose shots. I did well to save par on all but one hole. Like I said, I let an easy one go at six.
“I’m still in a good position, though, and I’m going to try to convert this lead into a victory. It’s not a gimme, though. The standard in the Race to Q-School series is really high this year; it’s definitely higher than I remember from last year.
Second round scores
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA.
133 - Dean O'Riley 68 65, Fanie Wolmarans AMA 68 65
135 - Malcolm Mitchell AMA 70 65, Clayton Mansfield AMA 67 68
137 - Ruan Korb AMA 68 69, Coert Groenewald 65 72, Gregg Blainey (ENG) 68 69, Jacques de Villiers 69 68
138 - Damian Naicker 68 70, Andrew van der Knaap AMA 71 67, Conway Kunneke 68 70, Matthew Spacey 70 68, Matt Saulez AMA 71 67, Peetie van der Merwe AMA 70 68, David Ashley (ENG) 70 68
139 - Pieter Moolman 70 69, Martin Rohwer 70 69, Stephen du Plessis AMA 69 70, Gareth Anderson AMA 71 68, Marc de Jager AMA 69 70, Michael Kok AMA 69 70
140 - Luke Trocado 70 70, Gary Daoust (BEL) 71 69, Altaaf Bux 69 71
141 - Bryce Myburgh 70 71, Jonathan Waschefort 73 68, Divan Marais 71 70
142 - John McClean (NIR) 70 72, Kyle Barker 74 68, Estiaan Conradie AMA 71 71, Alex van Heerden AMA 68 74, Thabang Simon 73 69, Luke Mayo AMA 71 71, Brendan Britten (NAM) 72 70
143 - Wayne Stroebel 71 72, Stephan Erasmus AMA 74 69, David Nortje AMA 72 71
144 - Paul de Beer 70 74, Juan Swart 75 69, Shaun Barrett AMA 71 73, Andrew Carlsson AMA 71 73
145 - Werner van Wyk 72 73, Andi Dill 74 71
146 - Teagan Moore 73 73, Philip Geerts AMA (ITA) 71 75, CJ Levey 74 72, Ruan Conradie AMA 76 70, Stephan de Beer 76 70, Richard O'Donovan (IRE) 73 73, Christian Basson AMA 71 75, Tom Watson AMA 73 73
147 - Duane Keun 76 71, Cameron Gunning 73 74, Leon Vorster AMA 73 74
148 - Keelan van Wyk AMA 74 74, Dylan Docherty 76 72, Thabi Ngcobo AMA 74 74
149 - WM Coetzee AMA 72 77, Armand van Dyk AMA 78 71, Dwayne Coetzee 74 75, Michael van Rooyen 77 72
Missed the cut:-
150 - Eric Nel AMA 77 73, Armand Azar AMA 73 77, Sam Metcalfe AMA 78 72
151 - Gerard du Plooy 78 73, Richard Tsai AMA 76 75, Sean Rice AMA 76 75, Handre Truter AMA 70 81, Liam Bezuidenhout AMA 73 78, Duan Nagel AMA 77 74, Marco De Beer AMA 78 73, Shaun van Tonder 72 79
152 - Ian Ansett AMA 76 76, Ruan Potgieter AMA 78 74
153 - Nash de Klerk AMA 74 79
154 - Johann Piek 75 79, Werner Lourens 79 75
155 - Adam Sheldrake AMA 77 78, Matt Wollmann (ZIM) 84 71, Quintin Crause 76 79
156 - Matthew Hands AMA 76 80
157 - Wesley Baptiste AMA 77 80, Conner Mackenzie AMA 79 78
158 - Hanro Booysen 81 77, Michael Dreyer 83 75, Christopher de Beer AMA 80 78
160 - Nicklas van Wyk AMA 79 81, Shaun Bernstein AMA 84 76
161 - Tyron Taylor AMA 79 82
162 - Shane Irwin AMA 81 81, Renier Venter AMA 80 82
167 - Roelof van Tonder AMA 87 80
170 - Gary Jutzen AMA 91 79
179 - Haydon Heres AMA 94 85
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
'We bring you the latest Garden Route, Klein Karoo, Hessequa news'
