LEOPARD CREEK, 8 February 2023 – Aldrich Potgieter maintained pole position at the halfway mark of the African Amateur Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club on Tuesday, but the reigning British Amateur champion’s lead is a slim one.
Following a second round of 69 that featured six birdies, one bogey and a double bogey at the tricky par three seventh hole, Potgieter tops the leaderboard at eight under par going into moving day.
Fellow GolfRSA National squad member Fabrizio de Abreu breathing down his neck one shot back and Scotland’s Gregor Graham and Bryanston’s Pascal Gunther area further two shots behind.
Dylan Kayne rounds out the top five after a 65 on day two propelled the GolfRSA National Squad member to four-under.
“It was a pretty solid round today,” Potgieter said. “I made a few mistakes, and Leopard Creek will punish you for that, but the birdies are out there.”
The Southern Cape golfer will fond memories of his third round of the tournament last year. He fired no fewer than 11 birdies in a round of 65 that really announced his arrival in South Africa following his family’s relocation from Western Australia.
Armed with immense power and an aggressive game plan, Potgieter vowed back then not to change his flag-hunting style, but a year later he has adopted a more mature approach as he looks to add one of South Africa’s most prestigious amateur titles to his impressive resume.
“It was important to put the team event first and try to stretch out lead to a comfortable one over the first two rounds. Today we’ll want to make sure we secure the win for South Africa,” he said. “I’m going to focus on keeping the ball in play. If I do that, the birdies will come and hopefully it will be another low one.”
The 54-hole team event sees the South African team of Potgieter, Kyle de Beer, Jono Broomhead and Daniel Bennett holding a comfortable 12-stroke advantage over their Scottish counterparts, but with three scores out of four to count, the lead is certainly not insurmountable.
Meanwhile 16-year-old De Abreu got off to a wobbly start in the pursuit of what would be the biggest title in the Junior Protea’s career.
A double on the par-four 11th and a bogey on the par-three 12th saw him slip to three over after three holes, but he regathered himself brilliantly for a round of 69 to sit one shot back of the lead.
“I just told myself to stay patient and trust things to come right,” he explained. “After that I ended up making made six birdies and it turned out to be a great round in the end.
“You’ve got to stay patient at this course. Sometimes you need to aim for the middle of the green and you need to manage your misses, otherwise you could record some big numbers here.”
ROUND 2 SCORES
136 Aldrich Potgieter 67 69
137 Fabrizio de Abreu 68 69
139 Gregor Graham SCO 70 69; Pascal Gunther 69 70
140 Dylan Kayne 75 65
141 Jonathan Broomhead 72 69
142 Matt Roberts WAL 71 71; Daniel Bennett 69 73
143 Kyle de Beer 76 67; Gregor Tait SCO 73 70; Shaurya Bhattacharya IND 72 71; Matthew Wilson SCO 71 72; Jordan Burnand 71 72
144 Simon du Plooy 76 68; Werner Deyzel 72 72
146 Christian Kriek 75 71; Reece Mc kain 74 72; Matthew McClean IRL 74 72; Martin Couvra FRA 72 74; Itai Cohen ISR 71 75
147 Jonathan Ericsson SWE 77 70; Jordan Wessels 74 73; Robert Brazill IRL 73 74
148 Letsoso Letsai 77 71; Njoroge Kibugu 75 73; August Petersson SWE 72 76
149 Altin van der Merwe 78 71; Ivan Verster 78 71; Marc Boucher IRL 77 72; Keagan Crosbie 76 73; Mark Stockdale ENG 76 73; Zachary Chegwidden GBR 73 76; Richard Knightly IRL 73 76; Robert Moran IRL 73 76
150 William Wistrand SWE 76 74; Nils Svanberg SWE 76 74; Adel Balala KEN 76 74
151 Hugh Foley IRL 77 74; Christopher Bagnall 73 78; Nash de Klerk 71 80
152 Judd Sundelson 80 72; Joshua Hill IRL 78 74; Jamie Mann SCO 77 75; Warwick Purchase 75 77; Eric Sabelstrom Holmberg SWE 73 79; Simon Hovdal SWE 72 80; Morris Schiefner 70 82
153 Michael Wallace 77 76; Jean Pierre van der Watt 76 77; Jaden Deltel 76 77; Dennis Kinyanjul Maara KEN 75 78
154 Vukasin Suturovic 82 72
155 Amilkar Bhana 80 75; Oliver Goldhill 77 78; Jack Buchanan 77 78; Jack McDonnell IRL 74 81
156 Milind Soni IND 81 75; Bradley Coombes ENG 76 80; Vinamra Anand IND 74 82
157 Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson SWE 80 77; Jere Brits 80 77; Oliver Brown WAL 79 78
158 Filip Sakota 82 76; Janko van der Merwe 80 78; Joshua Koekemoer 80 78; Todd Parker 78 80
159 Matthew Bramford 81 78
161 Neo Berg SWE 75 86
162 Edwin Kutara 78 84
163 Andrew Wahome 81 82
164 Max Halfants BEL 84 80
166 Jules Helary 88 78; Handre Truter 85 81
167 Titouan Tregouet 84 83; Harimohan Singh IND 79 88
168 Fred Njoroge 87 81; Thomas Wilson ENG 82 86
170 Khalil El Gazri FRA 85 85
172 Panashe Johane Mukumba 91 81
173 Tariro November 81 92
176 Victor Marcal ANG 96 80
177 Antonio Marcal ANG 86 91
186 Nito Gomes ANG 97 89
198 Antonio Avelino ANG 96 102
TEAM SCORES
Singles: Best 3 scores of 4 to count
413 Team South Africa 208 Aldrich Potgieter 67 Daniel Bennett 69 Jonathan Broomhead 72; 205 Kyle de Beer 67 Aldrich Potgieter 69 Jonathan Broomhead 69
425 Team Scotland 214 Gregor Graham 70 Matthew Wilson 71 Gregor Tait 73; 211 Gregor Graham 69 Gregor Tait 70 Matthew Wilson 72
448 Team Sweden 1 224 August Petersson 72 Nils Svanberg 76 William Wistrand 76; 224 Nils Svanberg 74 William Wistrand 74 August Petersson 76
449 Team Sweden 2 220 Simon Hovdal 72 Eric Sabelstrom Holmberg 73 Neo Berg 75; 229 Jonathan Ericsson 70 Eric Sabelstrom Holmberg 79 Simon Hovdal 80
451 Team Kenya 226 Njoroge Kibugu 75 Dennis Kinyanjul Maara 75 Adel Balala 76; 225 Njoroge Kibugu 73 Adel Balala 74 Dennis Kinyanjul Maara 78
453 Team India 225 Shaurya Bhattacharya 72 Vinamra Anand 74 Harimohan Singh 79; 228 Shaurya Bhattacharya 71 Milind Soni 75 Vinamra Anand 82
454 Team South Africa Juniors 229 Jaden Deltel 76 Keagan Crosbie 76 Jack Buchanan 77; 225 Keagan Crosbie 73 Amilkar Bhana 75 Jaden Deltel 77
474 Team Zimbabwe 239 Michael Wallace 77 Tariro November 81 Matthew Bramford 81; 235 Michael Wallace 76 Matthew Bramford 78 Panashe Johane Mukumba 81
538 Team Angola 278 Antonio Marcal 86 Victor Marcal 96 Antonio Avelino 96; 260 Victor Marcal 80 Nito Gomes 89 Antonio Marcal 91
PHOTO – GolfRSA National Squad member Fabrizio de Abreu will start moving day in the 2023 African Amateur Stroke Play Championship one off the pace at Leopard Creek Country Club; credit GolfRSA.
