On a very blustery day at Wild Coast Sun Country Club, Liam Grehan battled his way to a level-par round that sees him go into the final round trailing the leaders by just a single stroke at the Sunshine Tour’s SunBet Challenge.
The K Club man began the day tied for second but two adrift, so he’s halved the deficit even though his position on the leaderboard now reads ‘T4’.
Winds gusting up to 60 kmph meant it was always going to be a struggle on day two, but, having started on the back, he made his way to the turn at two-under having taken care of both par-5s and the par-4 18th with a single bogey coming on the 14th.
A rollercoaster front nine saw him birdie three and bogey three of the first seven holes, but disaster struck on the par-3 eighth when an untimely and unusually strong gust saw his downhill putt go racing past the hole, off the green and into a hazard, resulting in a double bogey five that cost him sole possession of the lead at the end of the day.
“I had about 25 feet down the hill after finding the green in regulation and a crazy gust just caught the ball and took it all the way down to the water,” he explained afterwards. “It was pretty tricky, but not crazy for most of the day, but that was a bit disappointing and I’m a little disappointed with level-par after that.
“But I’m playing very nicely and obviously in with a shot tomorrow. It should still be gusting up to 55 kmph tomorrow, so anything can happen. I’m happy to be in position though and will have to take whatever comes.”
Given the strength of the wind, his ball striking has been impressive, hitting 17 of 18 greens in round one and a further 13 in round two, missing just three fairways. Unfortunately, the putts haven’t been dropping as frequently as he’d like.
“The putter is stone cold, and even wet,” he joked. “But I have to keep doing what I’m doing and giving myself chances.
“The swing is feeling really solid at the moment. It’s far tougher to hit fairways back home playing on the PGA in Ireland Region, so I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with hitting the ball straight now.”
Rowan Lester also has a final-round tee time. The Hermitage man opened with a level-par 70 and followed with a 72 to make the cut on the number, ending his run of successive missed cuts since returning from the mid-season break.
A trio of South Africans in Nikhil Rama, James Mack and Keegan Thomas share the lead at -5, with a further five South Africans, a German, and Grehan all a shot behind.
Leave a comment