Bradbury keeps his nose in front for now — as rivals and weather loom

Daniel van Tonder, powered by local meat, blitzed the Houghton golf course in an eight-under-par 63 on Friday to put himself in contention for the weekend action of the Joburg Open. 

If the weather plays ball, that is, after disrupting play on the opening two days. 

Van Tonder was among the players who had to return early on Friday to complete their storm-interrupted first rounds and then he went back soon afterwards to play a flawless round of eight birdies, four on each nine, to move to 10 under par overall 

Overnight leader Dan Bradbury of England had stretched his total to 13 under par, one shot ahead of Frenchman Romain Langasque and local teenager Casey Jarvis, neither of whom could complete their rounds on Friday.  

On 10 under par were Van Tonder, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who shot 64 on Friday, Jbe Kruger, who signed for a 67, Englishman Nathan Kimsey and Sami Valimaki of Finland. 

Kimsey and Valimaki also need to complete their rounds on Saturday, during which plenty of bad weather has been forecast.  

“It was fun after finishing yesterday [Thursday] in the rain and having to come out early and finish,” said Van Tonder.  

“I’m very happy. I’ve been playing well the last seven months, just the results don’t show it. The difference has been making putts, the ball going into the hole finally,” said Van Tonder, a regular on the DP World Tour. 

“It’s nice to be home, have some proper meat. Missed it a bit. 

“I’ve been gymming a bit, getting the protein in and lifting some weights. I’m feeling good and strong. I gym to hit it out of the big bush.”

He cautioned, however, that it wasn’t wise to use the driver blindly on every hole. 

“The problem is the greens are firm so you can’t really hit it in the rough and expect the ball to react as you want to so it’s more or less hit it on the fairway and then attack the pins. 

“I just played solid, gave myself chances and made them. just get myself in the correct places.”

Many golfers have struggled to read the greens, but not so much Van Tonder. “I like the slopy greens, I’m reading them nicely these two days.”

Bradbury scored a bogey five on the second hole, but then carded two birdies, an eagle three, and two more birdies to turn in 31. Two more birdies on 10 and 11 had him at 15 under par before being tamed with two bogeys on the par-fourth 15th and par-three 16th.

“I had a go in there on the front nine, thought it was going to be another 63, 62, but I made a few mistakes,” said the Englishman, who scored a double drop on 15 on Thursday. 

Failure to get the ball into the right places on those two greens cost him. 

There are shots to be made on this course, but danger is also lurking. 

Van Tonder, however, has it figured out. “Put some pressure on the boys and just wait for the DvT to come through,” he said with a smile.

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