At nine under 135, the six-time IGT Tour champion leads by two from Terence Boardman and GFG Academy duo Russel Franz and CJ du Plessis tied for second and he is three clear of Damian Naicker and Botswana’s Stuart Smith.
Boardman and Franz both carded 68s, while Du Plessis returned a 69. Naicker, who shared in the four-way tie after round one, carded an even-par 72 and Smith signed for a 68.
However, joint first round pacesetters Maritz Wessels and Jeff Hopkins from Ireland both fell out of contention. Maritz slipped to joint 10th with a 75 and Hopkins registered a 76 to finish in a tie for 16th.
Groenewald managed to find some rhythm on the back nine to launch a strong finish after a poor start to the second round.
“I shanked my second shots at the first two holes, which is really not the way you want to start the round,” said 28-year-old Roodepoort golfer. “Luckily the second hole is a par five and I got away with a birdie, but the poor start stuck in my head for a bit.
“I dropped the fourth, birdied six, three-putted eight for a bogey and made a huge par save at nine after finding the water. It was just as if everything was out of sorts on the front nine and the wind didn’t help, but I got going properly after the turn and made four solid pars.
“Unfortunately I misjudged the wind and overshot the green at the short hole (14), but I made up for it with a great eagle at 15. I hit driver straight down the middle, a good hybrid two into the green and holed a 20-footer for three to regain the momentum.
“At 16, I parked it six feet from the hole and boxed the birdie putt and made a good par at 17. At 18, overshot the green again but made a very good up-and-down for birdie. It was tough to judge the wind out there, because it swirled something fierce. Club selection was really interesting but the course is so pristine that when you got it right, you reaped the rewards.”
Groenewald turned pro on the IGT Tour in 2012 and campaigned on the country’s premier development circuit until he earned his card for the 2015 Sunshine Tour season.
“Unfortunately I didn’t keep my card and I’m definitely taking another stab at it next year,” he said. “I learned so much from my rookie season and hopefully all that experience plus the Race to Q-School will help me get there when we go back to Q-School next March.”
Groenewald currently ranks eighth in the IGT Tour’s Race to Q-School Order of Merit and with only 11 events left in the series, he is keen to improve his position this week.
“Only the top five automatically qualify for the Final Stage, and I definitely want to be in that group,” he said. “Q-School is the toughest week of the season, so it would take a lot of pressure off if I can skip First Stage altogether. It’s such a great incentive to play for.”
Second round scores
All competitors RSA unless otherwise indicated and amateurs indicated as AMA
135 - Coert Groenewald 66 69
137 - Terence Boardman 69 68, CJ du Plessis 68 69, Russel Franz 69 68
138 - Damian Naicker 66 72, Stuart Smith (BOT) 70 68
139 - Matthew Spacey 70 69
140 - Ruan Potgieter AMA 71 69, Estiaan Conradie AMA 68 72
141 - Paul de Beer 71 70, Derek Scullard AMA 69 72, Maritz Wessels 66 75, Jaco Prinsloo 72 69, Duane Keun 70 71, Conway Kunneke 70 71
142 - Jeff Hopkins (IRE) 66 76, Hendrikus Stoop AMA 74 68, Ruan Korb AMA 73 69, Ruan Conradie AMA 71 71, JC Ritchie 71 71, Nobuhle Dlamini (SWA) 73 69, Carrie Park 71 71
143 - Gregg Blainey (ENG) 72 71, Paul Boshoff AMA 72 71, Bryce McCabe 68 75, Pieter Cooper AMA 74 69, Clinton Grobler 70 73, Michael Kok AMA 69 74
144 - Alex van Heerden AMA 72 72, Stephan Erasmus AMA 71 73, Ockert Strydom 70 74
145 - Stefan Labuschagne AMA 72 73, Jonathan Waschefort 73 72, Quintin Crause 70 75
146 - Jandre Fullard 71 75, Wesley Baptiste AMA 72 74, David Ashley (ENG) 73 73, Leon Vorster AMA 73 73
147 - Brett Liddle 71 76, Fanie Wolmarans AMA 73 74, Leon Visser AMA 74 73, Garth Wolter 73 74
148 - Albert Visser AMA 73 75, Stephan de Beer 74 74, Johan van der Wath 72 76, DK Kim (KOR) 71 77
149 - Wayne Stroebel 72 77, LJ Lowies AMA 74 75
150 - Werner Van Wyk 75 75, Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN) 74 76, Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 74 76
151 - Johary Raveloarison (MDG) 73 78, Philip Geerts AMA (ITA) 72 79, Matt Wollmann (ZIM) 69 82, Richard Tsai AMA 71 80, Arno Pretorius AMA 74 77, Bryce Myburgh 72 79
152 - Driekus Gous AMA 77 75, Wayne du Toit 73 79, Tristan Nel AMA 75 77
Missed the cut:-
153 - Matthew Vogel 75 78, Richard O'Donavan (IRE) 74 79, Justin Turner 75 78, Lydon Charnley AMA 78 75, Gary Daoust (BEL) 76 77
154 - Thabi Ngcobo AMA 81 73, Brendan Britten (NAM) 74 80, Dwayne Coetzee 76 78, Eric Nel AMA 77 77
155 - Nicklas Van Wyk AMA 77 78
156 - Clinton Cheia 75 81, Gareth Anderson AMA 78 78
157 - Willem Brummer 77 80, Cameron Gunning 75 82, Duan Nagel AMA 79 78
158 - WM Coetzee AMA 78 80, Werner Lourens 79 79
159 - Jonathan van Aswegen 81 78, Sam Metcalfe AMA 78 81, Walter Behr AMA 74 85
163 - Stef Visage 79 84
164 - Stephane van Neer AMA (COD) 78 86, Hanro Booysen 77 87
167 - Tommie Brits 81 86
171 - Jacques Staats AMA 84 87
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
