Liam Grehan and Rowan Lester are very much in the mix at the halfway mark of the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf at Pezula Golf Estate.
After shooting matching five-under 67s in round one, the duo shared 15th place and Grehan, fresh off a confidence-boosting first cut in nine starts at last week’s Stella Artois Players Championship, was the first to get his second round underway.
A bogey on the par-5 opener was far from the ideal start, but that was his only dropped shot of the day and after five pars, a birdie on the index-1 seventh kickstarted him into gear. Further birdies on eight and nine followed, and he made the turn at two-under, then added further birdies at 11, 14, and 15 to move to -5 on the day and -10 overall with two to play. He closed out the round with another pair of back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 and signed for a seven-under 65, his lowest round of the campaign, and goes into the final two rounds tied for seventh and just three off the lead.
After a rough patch since returning from the mid-season break, he’s happy to be rounding into form.
“I’m in a lot better spirit than I was a month ago,” Grehan said. “The hard work’s paying off eventually and I just have to keep the head down over the weekend and play one shot at a time. It’s nice that I’ve found something and it’s staying with me for the moment. Now I have to keep the foot down and try to make something happen.”
Grehan puts his reversal in form part down to a minor change to his irons’ setup.
“I got a new set of Titleist irons, but it took me a while to get used to them, to be honest,” he said. “I didn’t like the weights, so I got them made heavier and I’m starting to feel where the club face is again. It’s amazing what making sure your equipment’s right can do.
“Now that wasn’t all of it, but I’ve started hitting a few nice iron shots again and that’s been the big difference.”
Lester was playing in the group behind and he took one stroke more, making his only bogey of the day on the sixth, but carding birdies on four and five previously, and then adding two more on eight and nine.
He began the back nine with a par on 10 and a birdie on 11, then parred the following five before matching his colleague’s finish with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18, and he sits tied for 11th at 11-under, four shots off the lead.
This is the ninth made cut in his last 12 starts, and given the competitive nature of the Sunshine Tour, that’s impressive going.
“I’ve been playing lovely,” he said. “And even last week, I only missed the cut by one, and they’re tight cuts as well down here because this year they’ve changed it from top 60-and-ties to the top 50-and-ties, so it makes the cuts really tight, especially when there’s 150 players playing.
“I think this course it’s gettable, but at the same time if you’re just a little bit off, you could easily shoot level or one-over, and that could be the difference between missing the cut and being in contention.
“I played nice, got off to a solid start. I actually didn’t hit my irons very well yesterday and hit them better today so I had a few more looks for birdie. But I’m happy to have only had one bogey on each of the first two days. That’s been the difference with me lately, I feel.”
First-round leader Christiaan Burke overcame an early bogey to post a six-under 66 and post -15 to take a one-stroke advantage into the final two rounds.
The South African spearheads the strong home contingent, with another pair of Springboks in Tynan Snyders and Casey Jarvis his nearest challengers, and three more tied for fourth at -13.
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