Nienaber edges ahead in Rustenburg
Wilco Nienaber from Bloemfontein edged two strokes clear of joint first round leader Martin Vorster in the second round of the Nomads SA Boys U-15 Championship at Rustenburg Golf Club on Thursday.
The pair began the second day tied for the lead on two under, but Mossel Bay’s Vorster could not match Nienaber’s four-under-par 68.
The Free State junior finished on six under 138, with Louis Oosthuizen Academy member Vorster alone in second on 140.
However, but with Werner Deysel from Woodhill Country Club a distant third on 147 after rounds of 73 and 74, the final round battle will be a contest of wills between 14-year-old Nienaber and 12-year-old Vorster.
Vorster hit the front early with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes, while Nienaber erased a birdie at the fourth with a bogey at the sixth.
The Southern Cape junior birdied the eighth, but Nienaber notched in a pair of birdies at eight and nine to turn just one stroke behind Vorster.
Nienaber answered Voster’s bogey at the 11th with a brace of birdies at the 12th and 13th to take the lead at four under, but he gave one back at the par-four 14th while Vorster closed the gap to one stroke with a birdie at the 14th.
Vorster bogeyed the 15th, though, and Nienaber sealed his two shot edge with birdie at the par-three 17th.
TOP 20 SCORES
138 Wilco Nienaber 70 68
140 Martin Vorster 70 70
147 Werner Deyzel 73 74
148 Dijon Coetzer 78 70; Rigardt Albertse 73 75
149 Robin Williams GBR 76 73; Shaun Jones 75 74
150 Andre van Dyk 77 73; Tristan Galant 76 74
151 Casey Jarvis 80 71; Daniel Cronje 76 75; Xander Prinsloo 74 77
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.