Article and Photo by Sunshine Tour

JOHANNESBURG, 11 October 2008 – Divan van den Heever has given himself a decent shot at capturing the R79,250 first place cheque on Sunday after powering to a two stroke lead in the second round of the inaugural BMG Classic in Benoni.

Van den Heever, 25, flirted with the fast greens at Ebotse Golf and Country Club, holing nine birdie putts for a blistering 65 to set the early target at nine-under-par 135.

This gives the former Bearing Man Highveld Classic winner a comfortable cushion over Titch Moore (67) and overnight leader Jaco van Zyl (70), tied for second.

“I think I played okay today,” said leader Van den Heever, looking to end the title drought since his maiden win in 2004.

“I made one mistake, but feel I had a really good round. I had 26 putts in total and that is what it will take to win this competition; these greens are not as easy as they look.”

Van Zyl build on his prolific first round form and, apart from his bogey on the 11^th, was steady with birdies at the 9^th, 12^th and 18^th.

Port Elizabeth based Moore, a double winner last year with victories at the Vodacom Origins Final and Coca Cola Charity Championship at Arabella, holed five birdies in a flawless round and a five stroke improvement on his first round effort.

Joint overnight leader Jbe’ Kruger added his name to the clutch of players tied for fourth after battling to 71.

The 22-year-old fought hard to overcome a double-bogey start and holed birdie putts at the sixth, seventh, 10^th, 15^th, 16^th and 18^th holes which gives him the opportunity to challenge for his maiden title on Sunday.

The other players in contention in fourth are Boksburg based Doug McGuigan (70), Brazilian Adilson da Silva (67) and the English-born Richard Kemp (69).

Omar Sandys, another overnight leader, returned a disappointing 73.

The Sandvelder, hampered by some discomfort in the shoulder, managed to erase some of the damage caused by five double-bogeys with birdies at the second, 11^th, 13^th and 17^th holes.

Sandys is at four-under with local pro Brandon Pieters, who improved on his opening 72 with a second 68.

Benoni based Dion Fourie, who set the clubhouse target on Friday, signed for a dismal 80 – a 13 shot swing on his opening 67. His round included five bogeys (second, third, 12^th, 13^th and 16^th holes) and two double-bogeys on the fourth and 11^th.

The cut, set at three-over-par 147, left 70 players in the mix to contest for their share of the R500,000 purse in Sunday’s final round.

 

GOLF-SUNSHINE TOUR-BMG Classic-Second Round Scores

Herewith the second round scores from the R500,000 BMG Classic played on Saturday, 11 October 2008 at the Ebotse Golf and Country Club, Gauteng.  All competitors RSA unless otherwise indicated:

135 - Divan van den Heever 70 65

137 - Jaco Van Zyl 67 70, Titch Moore 70 67

138 - Jbe' Kruger 67 71, Richard Kemp (ENG) 69 69, Doug McGuigan 68 70, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 71 67

139 - Lindani Ndwandwe 71 68, Christiaan Basson 70 69

140 - Omar Sandys 67 73, Brandon Pieters 72 68, Wallie Coetsee 71 69, Tyrone Ferreira 72 68, Dean Lambert 74 66, Ulrich van den Berg 69 71

141 - Jake Roos 68 73, Prinavin Nelson 75 66, Bradley Davison 76 65, Darren Fichardt 68 73, Michiel Bothma 69 72, Bennie van der Merwe 72 69

142 - Louis de Jager 72 70, Albert Pistorius 71 71, Jaco Ahlers 73 69, Henk Alberts 71 71, Stuart Clark (WAL) 72 70, Theunis Spangenberg 72 70, Ryan Tipping 73 69

143 - Callie Burger 71 72, Gerlou Roux 68 75, Brett Liddle 71 72, David Hewan 72 71, Wynand Dingle 71 72, Attie Schwartzel 73 70, Bradford Vaughan 69 74, Chris Williams 68 75, Desvonde Botes 76 67, Michael Green 71 72

144 - Alan Michell 69 75, Reggie Adams 72 72, George Coetzee 74 70, Thabang Simon 69 75, Andrew Curlewis 76 68, Steve van Vuuren 70 74, Neil Schietekat 73 71

145 - Rossouw Loubser 75 70, Johan Etsebeth 74 71, Clifford Howes 74 71, Nemanja Savic (SER) 71 74, Shaun Ellis 74 71, Steve Basson 74 71, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 70 75, Josh Cunliffe 74 71, Tsietsi Chabangu 71 74

146 - Bafana Hlophe 72 74, Tongo Charamba (ZIM) 73 73, Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 76 70, Neil Cheetham (ENG) 75 71, Callie Swart 72 74, Eugen Marugi 73 73, Vaughn Groenewald 72 74

147 - Heinrich Bruiners 73 74, Shaun Norris 71 76, Grant Veenstra 75 72, Don Black 72 75, Dion Fourie 67 80, Werner Geyer 75 72, Ross Wellington 69 78, Nico van Rensburg 76 71, Ian Hutchings 68 79

Missed the cut:-

148 - Jeff Inglis (ENG) 73 75, Louis Moolman 77 71, Irvin Mazibuko 75 73, Darren Holder 77 71, Peter Msiza 75 73, Toto Thimba (Jnr) 76 72, Jean Hugo 77 71, Gary Thain 75 73

149 - Kyle Norris 71 78, Teboho Sefatsa 75 74, Warren Abery 75 74, PH McIntyre 74 75, Mike Curtis (ZIM) 77 72, Greg Upneck 74 75, Anil Shah (KEN) 77 72, Kevin Stone 77 72

150 - Clifford Ndou 75 75, Michael du Toit 78 72, Kieran Court 78 72, Oliver Bekker 78 72, Roberto Lupini 78 72, Mohamed Tayob 73 77, Merrick Bremner 76 74, Patrick O'Brien 74 76

151 - Dale Burraston 72 79, Sean Farrell (ZIM) 78 73, Mark Murless 73 78, Billy Valentyn 75 76, Andre Cruse 75 76, Mark Williams 73 78

152 - Mark Smith (MAW) 76 76, Michael Dreyer 77 75, John Bele 75 77, Juan Langeveld 74 78

153 - Trevor Fisher Jnr 79 74, Vengesai Phiri (ZIM) 77 76

154 - Johan Wolfaardt 75 79, Johary Raveloarison (MAD) 78 76, Gerhard Trytsman 75 79, Allan Wilson (SCO) 82 72

155 - Gary van Vreden 78 77, Darren Ryan 79 76

156 - Marius Beukes 78 78, Regardt van Rooyen 80 76

157 - Ernest Moloi (LES) 79 78

158 - Alex Baillie 79 79, Willie van der Merwe 85 73, Derick Petersen 76 82

162 - Andy Shackleton 85 77, Reinhardt van Zyl 79 83

RTD - Dandre Neumeyer 73 RTD

DSQ - Nic Henning 80 DSQ, Grant Muller 73 DSQ, Christo Eagleton 78 DSQ

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