Stone wins, Porteous derails at Sanlam SA Amateur challenge
It was a tough day at the office for the country’s leading amateurs as Free State amateur Louis Taylor derailed Haydn Porteous’s bid to win the elusive double and Brandon Stone had to scrape his way to victory against a relentless Pedrie Oosthuizen in the second round of t the Sanlam South Africa’s Amateur Championship.
Taylor took out Western Province’s Werner Theart 4 & 2 on Monday but saved his best golf for the reigning SA Stroke Play champion. Porteous, who was bidding to become just the seventh player to win the Stroke Play and Match Play titles in a calendar year, said he expected a tough match but got more than he bargained for.
“I know Louis well from the Gary Player School of Champions and I expected a tough match, but today he was just too hot for me to handle,” he said.
Taylor took the early lead with back-to-back birdies at four and five, but Porteous clawed his way back into the match with a birdie at the sixth. The pair halved the next two holes before Taylor edged ahead again with an eagle at the 10th. “We both hit great drives and I hit my approached 10 feet closer to the hole, so I was thinking birdie to win the hole,” Porteous said.
“He knocked in a 20-footer for eagle and that just took the wind out of my sails. And that’s the way things pretty much went for the next eight holes. I just couldn’t get the better of him.”
Stone had to battle a blustery South-Easterly wind, a streaky putter and a ruthless opponent for 20 holes before he could take claim victory and set up a third round clash with Paul Shields of Scotland.
“The match was pretty up and down,” said Stone. “Every time I got my nose in front, Pedrie would produce a great drive or putt to square things up.
“I was two up with three to play when he just hit back at me again and square the match with some unbelievable shots. I finally got the win with a mammoth putt at the 20th.”
Shields, a finalist in 2011, had to go the distance against Desne van den Bergh and the pair halved no less than 14 holes before the Scotsman finally clinched victory at the 19th hole.
“That was a marathon, not a match,” said a relieved Shields. “And I expect this afternoon against Brandon will be no different.”
Meanwhile Limpopo amateur Paul de Beer and Mowbray golfer Drew Denyer declared themselves ready to halt the Scottish onslaught when they tee it up this afternoon against Brian Soutar and Daniel Kay.
De Beer dropped just one shot on his way to a 4 & 3 victory over Boland’s Pieter Coetzee while home course favourite Denyer sent South Africa’s number four ranked Zander Lombard packing with a comprehensive 7 & 6 hiding.
While Denyer will rely on local knowledge and a hot putter against Kay, it falls to De Beer to stop his Soutar, who has been on an impressive run this week. The Scotsman beat Morten Bredahl 6 & 4 in round one and came from behind to hand his countryman, Scott Crichton, his marching orders with a 3 & 2 win.
“Brian has hardly dropped any shots this week, which means he won’t give any holes away,” said 19-year-old De Beer from Mokopane (Potgietersrus). “I’ll have to try and do what I did against Pieter and get my nose in front early. That will put the pressure on him to perform and it might just force him into making mistakes. No doubt, it will be a tough match.”
Top English amateur Toby Tree dropped a 7 & 5 bomb on Southern Cape’s Breyten Meyer and will meet his compatriot and fellow the English Boys Squad member, Jamie Clare in round three. Clare got past Armand Scholtz at the 18th hole to set up an all-English battle.
In other top 16 matches, Fancourt amateur Shaun Smith, Central Gauteng’s Terence Boardman, Milnerton’s Michael Loppnow, Ekurhuleni’s Gert Myburgh, Limpopo’s CJ du Plessis, Drikus Bruyns from Boland and Western Province’s JP Strydom were also victorious.
Click here for live scoring of matches
Click here for match play draw