Tom McKibbin again showed fine form in today’s second round to leave himself right in the chase moving into the weekend at the Jonsson Workwear Open at Glendower Golf Club in South Africa.
That he is even in contention after a scintillating round from halfway leader Matteo Manassero (-11) is testament to McKibbin’s good form that he has carried through recent weeks.
Starting with the early groups after overnight storms, Glendower GC was expected to offer some opportunities for lower scorecards. Speaking yesterday Tom McKibbin stressed the importance of accuracy tee-to-green on this golf course. And today, the Tour’s fifth ranked player for driving accuracy this season, showed exactly those credentials. He would negotiate his way around bogey free to card -8 and leave himself right in the mixer on -13 at the halfway point. A solid position, just two strokes shy of Italian leader Manassero after his monster -11 round, which took two strokes off the course record.
A solid start to his day on the par-4 10th would be followed by back-to-back birdies. They came in streaks on his opening nine with three in a row from the par-4 16th to take him to 10-under at the turn and in a share of the lead. A more conservative second nine yielded seven pars only punctuated with birdie on the par-4 third and his first eagle of the tournament on the sixth. Yesterday’s tournament-ranked number one player in driving accuracy was giving his strong iron game chances.
While the excitement and attention on course grew around the possibility of a fabled 59, as Manassero came off the par-4 seventh on -11 with two to play, McKibbin had quietly put together a fine round and will feel in great shape going into moving day.
“Yeah, bogey free today, which was nice, sort of, as you said, tidied a few things up from yesterday and a good, solid round” McKibbin reflected after the round, before giving his thoughts on the state of the greens after heavy rain overnight and whether it made them easier this morning.
“Not really, no,” he said. “I think with the greens being so soft, it gets a bit trickier because some of the pins are quite close to some slopes, so trying to manage the spin and take it off is quite tricky, so I wouldn’t say it made it easier at all.”
Asked about his recent run of form, he was upbeat, saying: “Yeah, my game feels very good. It’s been very, sort of, consistent this year, very solid. Sort of, good feelings each week so, yeah, it’s feeling good.” And on his strategy looking ahead to the weekend: “Just more of the same. Just staying aggressive and keep doing what I’m doing, hopefully.”
It was another round of solid scoring in the South African sunshine overall, with the Italian Manassero’s low of -11, seeing him attack his final two holes, even attempting a hole out second-shot on his par-4 last.
Just the seven birdies and two eagles to break Glendower GC’s low with an out nine score of 28 as pin and distance control were key in a sparkling display.
South Africa’s own Oliver Bekker putting together a second consecutive round of seven-under to leave him sitting solo second on -14, one shot adrift of the rampaging Italian. Angel Hidalgo led a Spanish charge, matching McKibbin’s eight-under for the day and joins him tied for third at the end of play on -13.
Compatriot Ivan Cantero staged a rally in his opening nine with eagles on his second and seventh of the day. He would continue to attempt to bridge the gap to the lead on a back nine with birdies at two and seven. A bogey on his second last and par to wrap today’s play would leave the two Spaniards level with McKibbin on 13-under at end of Friday’s play.
Overnight co-leader with Cantero, Keenan Davidse couldn’t emulate his form of yesterday, a round of one-under leaves him on nine-under-par overall.
A soft course and ideal scoring conditions gave plenty of opportunities, many of which were taken. This would pack up a sizeable chasing group on double figures under par and we can expect more low scoring to come.
McKibbin will look for consistency going forward to put him into position to challenge on Sunday. He, like the rest of the pack will be hoping Matteo Manassero doesn’t reproduce today’s performance, or the Italian could be out of sight before a ball is struck in anger on Sunday.
This, with events elsewhere, is shaping up for an intriguing weekend for Irish golf.
Leave a comment