Vodacom Business Origins, Fichardt and Harding surge to clubhouse lead
Darren Fichardt and Justin Harding surged into a club house lead after a tough round at Oubaai Golf Club, Capetown on Thursday.
In the presence of persisting rain and overcast weather, the 23-year-old amateur (Justin Harding), who stole the show in the first round of the Vodacom Business Origins grand finale did it again. He held on his lead and welcomed Darren Fichardt. The South
African, carded a blemish-free round with a score of 66 and pushed himself in the top spot of the leader board.
Both the players were trying their luck to bag the prize money of $69, 9010 out of grand total of $4.19 million. In doing so, they teed off in the morning, but that did no good as the same overcast weather persisted in the morning.
Generally, in conditions like these, golfers prefer to tee off in the morning, as it gives them an edge with the hard green. With continuous rains, the green becomes very soft and putting becomes difficult. The early strategy did not work for the two, but
the delay did. The match came to a halt for an hour, owing to torrential rains.
The veteran (Darren Fichardt) and the amateur were glad on the sudden announcement, as it strengthened their position.
After the second round finished in their favour, Harding said, “When we rocked up here at quarter to six this morning, it was looking pretty grim, I played nicely today, left a couple of shots out there on the course, but overall I managed the game well
and got it in the clubhouse”.
Harding and Fichardt will be teeing off in the late hours in the third round of the tournament, which will start in a few hours. Fichardt, who shot six birdies in the second round, was less satisfied with his late hours.
Speaking to the press, he said, “I hit a lot of greens today and made no bogeys, which is key on a course like this, on 18, I was just short and chipped in and made birdie. Then funny enough on the last hole, on nine, I hit a putt way too hard, it hit the
back of the hole and jumped up quite high then dropped back into the hole for birdie, so that was quite nice.”
He further added that he was quite upset over the last few months as he was not winning. Despite having seven top-10s and a 14th spot finish in the first eight starts, Fichardt was not satisfied with his form. The player won the International Final Qualifying
for the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews in Scotland and chased it with a victory at the Dimension Data Pro-Am which got staged in Fancourt.
Above all the player is eyeing a victory in the final round, although he realizes the fact that Harding will not let him seize it with ease.
Moving further to the rest of the field, a trio of Alan Michell, Ryan Cairns, and Merrick Bremner bagged a second place finish by scoring 70, 70, and 68 respectively. They settled with a score of three-under-par.
Oubaai Golf Club has been witnessing some superb performances in the last few days. Apart from the leaders, another golfer outshined in the pro-am session in the first round, that amateur was a 17-year-old, Brandon Stone.
The teenage fired a score of 11-under-par 61 and surprised the entire field including Darren Fichardt, who could not help, but marvel at his game.
Commenting on Stone’s game, Fichardt said that the young golfer had an unbelievable game and he made the course look silly.
Vodacom Business Origins grand finale has stepped in its final stage. The third round of the tournament will kick off in few hours at Oubaai Golf Club, which is located in Cape Town, South Africa.
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