Five Irish Contest Tshwane Open

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Shane Lowry, Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, Peter Lawrie and Kevin Phelan are in action this week in South Africa and join Jaco Van Zyl, who hopes to continue the excellent record of South African players on home soil at the Tshwane Open.

Home players have won nine of the last 11 European Tour events in South Africa, but Van Zyl is still awaiting his breakthrough after runner-up finishes at the Africa Open and Trophée Hassan II. 

"As South Africans we always feel a bit more pressure playing European Tour events at home, but we've always done well in these events," said Van Zyl, who has made every cut this season and finished tied for fifth in East London two weeks ago.

"We're very competitive and we like marking our territory and won't give it up that easily. It would be nice if it's my turn this week."

Dawie van der Walt admits he faces a journey into the unknown as he looks to defend his title this week.

Van der Walt won his maiden European Tour title in the inaugural Tshwane Open 12 months ago and also triumphed at the Nelson Mandela Championship in December, but does not know how he will respond to the pressure of being defending champion.

"This is the first time I am defending so I don't really know what it's like," Van der Walt told the European Tour podcast. "We will see how I deal with the pressure of defending.

"I am not putting too much pressure on myself, my goal for this week is just to have a chance going into the last day to defend the title, not be too far back.

"If I can defend it, great; if I don't I'm not going to let it affect me too much."

Van der Walt won by two shots from compatriot Darren Fichardt last year on the Ernie Els-designed Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate at Centurion, which at 7,964 yards is the longest course in European Tour history.

It is also the first European Tour course to have four par fives measuring over 600 yards, while the 685 yard par five fourth hole is the longest in European Tour history.

"Last year the course was long but this year it's ridiculous. It's almost crazy," said local favourite Fichardt, who was born in Pretoria and is attached to Centurion.

"It's going to be demanding on your long-iron play, and it's going to put pressure on your chipping and putting.

"I like this course and I've been pretty consistent this year. I play here a lot and I'm hitting it a bit longer, which helps around here."

World Number 53 George Coetzee is the highest ranked player in the field and reached the last-16 in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona last week.

Coetzee beat World Number 13 Steve Stricker in the first round and Patrick Reed in the second at Dove Mountain, before losing 3 and 1 to eventual champion Jason Day.

The Joburg Open winner has been paired with England's Tommy Fleetwood and fellow South African van Zyl in the first two rounds.

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Hoey Finishes Second Round

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Michael Hoey finally finished his second round on Friday at the rain interrupted Nelson Mandela Championship in South Africa signing for a 69 to finish -6 and six strokes off the leaders.

David Higgins, Damien McGrane and Simon Thornton have yet to complete round two in an event now reduced to 54 holes.

Kevin Phelan carded rounds of 74 and 70 to fall well four shorts beyond the projected cut.

Jorge Campillo was one of two players to card a 59 on day three of The Nelson Mandela Championship presented by ISPS Handa, but England’s Daniel Brooks remains the man to catch in Durban.

Campillo and South African Colin Nel both broke the magic 60 barrier within moments of each other – although they will not enter the record books as preferred lies were allowed on Mount Edgecombe’s saturated fairways.

Spain’s Campillo had two eagles and seven birdies in his incredible round to reach 11 under par for the tournament, but first round leader Brooks was 12 under with seven holes of his second round remaining when darkness brought play to a halt.

England’s Matthew Baldwin shot a 62 to share the clubhouse lead with Campillo, with home favourites Branden Grace, Oliver Bekker and Dawie van der Walt on ten under.

Following lengthy delays on both Wednesday and Thursday, waterlogged fairways again held up play for three hours this morning and forced organisers to reduce the tournament to 54 holes.

On completion of the first round nobody had bettered Qualifying School graduate Brooks’ 62 from the opening day, but after a quick turnaround Campillo swiftly moved ahead.

Three birdies and an eagle on the way out saw him turn in 31, and he added another gain at the first.

Bidding for a first European Tour title, the 27 year old then holed from 25 feet at third, pitched in at the fourth for his second eagle, and hit his tee shot to six feet at the short fifth.

A straightforward two-putt at the long eighth completed his scoring, and afterwards he said: “We play other par 70s on Tour, but you still have to shoot 59 and I’m pretty happy with the way I finished. 

“I was ten under after 14 holes and had two tough par fours and a tough par three coming in.

“I was never close to 59 before, but in the KLM Open I was eight under with three holes to go on a par 70. Finishing with three birdies would have put me on 59, but I finished par-par-bogey. That helped me a lot today, because finishing well was important and I did it.”

Brooks did not tee off until after Campillo and Baldwin had finished, but chipped in at the 15th for his third birdie in his opening six holes to draw level.

Another gain from 20 feet at the first then put the 26 year old ahead, and he will have the chance to extend his lead over the last seven holes when play resumes at 06:00 on Saturday morning.

Baldwin has never finished better than fifth on The European Tour, but is looking forward to challenging for a maiden title and believes having completed his second round could be an advantage on Saturday.

“I don’t think tiredness comes into it - what does come into it is the fact that you’re playing a lot of holes close together,” he said. “For example, I played 21 holes in a short space of time today and by the time I finished I was quiet tired, so getting some rest in will be important for tomorrow.”

World Number 49 Grace won four times on The Race to Dubai in 2012, but having had several near misses in a trophy-less 2013 is keen to return to wining ways. 

“I feel like this week shows what happens when you make those few extras putts,” said the 25 year old.

“I’m right up there again and it’s all about the putting. If I can keep rolling the ball well then hopefully tomorrow will be one more memory of lifting a trophy. It would be great to finish the year off with a win.

Grace can also cement his place in the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 50 who will receive invites to the Masters Tournament at the end of the year, but the Pretoria golfer has another motive.

“Mandela is one of the reasons I am here,” he added. “A lot of people think I’m here for the top 50, but I think I’ve secured that for the year. 

“Coming here you’re trying to get the win for Madiba, not that it will make everything better for the country, but hopefully it will put a little smile on some people’s faces. Maybe if you lift the trophy at the end you can say ‘this is for him’.”

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Thornton Second in Portugal

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Simon Thornton dropped just one shot on his way to a six under par third round 65 at the Portugal Masters on Saturday, to retain a two share of second place with South African Otto Hennie at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club in Vilamoura. 

Paul Waring will take a two shot lead into the final round, as Scotland's Scott Jamieson coming agonisingly close to recording the first 59 on The European Tour.

Jamieson charged into contention with 11 birdies in the first 17 holes of his third round at Oceânico Victoria Golf Course, and needed another on the last of the par 71 layout to break the magical 60 barrier.

However, his approach ran just over the green and his chip from around 15 feet grazed the edge of the hole, the 29 year old sinking to his knees before tapping in for par.

Jamieson had to settle for the 18th round of 60 in European Tour history and the second this season after American Peter Uihlein's 12 under round at Kingsbarns during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Having only made the halfway cut by one shot, Jamieson found himself in the clubhouse lead on 14 under just as overnight leaders Waring, David Lynn and Hennie Otto were heading to the first tee at 12 under.

And only Waring was able to overhaul Jamieson's total, the Englishman recovering from a shaky start to card a 67 and claim a two shot lead as he seeks his first European Tour title.

Jamieson actually shot a round of 57 before winning his first European Tour title in a play-off for the Nelson Mandela Championship in South Africa last December, but that was in a tournament cut to 36 holes and on a Royal Durban course reduced to a par 65 because of saturated fairways.

He said: "I said to Richard (his caddie) playing 17 I really want to make a birdie here so we have a chance of it going down the last and I could not have asked to hit a better shot in. It pitched just short of the hole...what a chip as well!

"When I birdied the 13th I said to Richard, 'a few more and we could be part of history'. I was definitely nervous but thinking about it from the tournament point of view the leaders are going to be a minimum of 16, 17 maybe 18 under going into tomorrow so that kept me going from a pushing point of view."

Jamieson, who carded an opening 66 but struggled to a 73 on Friday, added: "I played really well the first day and got nothing out of it. I was five under par but the longest putt I holed was maybe eight feet for par on one hole.

"I felt like I have been playing well for a while - there have been a few good rounds in there. Yesterday I didn't necessarily play poorly, I just didn't score well so it was nice today."

Waring, who is playing on a medical extension this season after an operation on a serious wrist injury, looked to be drifting out of contention when he bogeyed the par five fifth and then fired his approach to the ninth over the green.

But the 28 year old promptly chipped in for an unlikely birdie and collected four more on the back nine to move two shots clear of Jamieson, playing partner Hennie Otto, Ireland's Simon Thornton and Welshman Jamie Donaldson.

"It was very good towards the end of the round," said Waring, who enjoyed the first top five finish of his European Tour career at the Open de España in April and has had three more top tens since.

"I started a bit poorly and didn't quite hit it close enough but holed some nice putts towards the end of the day. I feel pretty good, two ahead, so we will see what happens tomorrow."

Asked if he was ready to claim a maiden victory on Sunday, Waring added: "I can't really say. You don't know what's going to happen with the other lads, what anyone else is going to score. You can't control those sorts of things.

"All I can do is control what I can control and add them up at the end of the day and see what happens."

On a crowded leaderboard, Scotland's Chris Doak was three off the lead after dropping his first shot of the week on the 18th, the 35 year old looking to climb from 112th on The Race to Dubai into the top 110 to keep his card for next season.

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