Home favourite Nadia van der Westhuizen holds the halfway lead at the Joburg Ladies Open after firing a round of 68 (-5) on Friday to move to nine-under par.
Playing in the morning, and starting on the 10th hole, the Sunshine Ladies Tour player was level par with five holes remaining in round two before she lit things up at Modderfontein Golf Club finishing with five straight birdies to take the outright lead.
“It was a very good start,” van der Westhuizen said, whose best result on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this season is a T14 finish at last week’s Jabra Ladies Classic.
“A bit shaky in the middle but a very good back nine as well. I finished very well. This week I just came out to enjoy it. I didn’t expect anything at all and it’s paid off a little bit, I’m just having fun this week.”
On her incredible finish, the South African said: “Honestly I wasn’t even thinking about it [five birdies in a row]. At the ninth hole, I said to Larissa my caddie I think we just made four birdies in a row and then I said to her let’s just hit one more good shot and one more good putt. It was just momentum I think.
“I think I’m just going to do the same thing as I have been doing. I’m just going to enjoy it and do the same process which is shot-by-shot.”
Hot on her heels in Ladies European Tour (LET) rookie Chiara Tamburlini. The Swiss star matched the South African’s score with some fine play carding five birdies and one eagle to move to eight-under par for the tournament.
“I had a lovely day,” Tamburlini said. “It was a wonderful group, I played with Marta [Martin] and Nicole [Garcia] and we just had so much fun out there which always helps to keep your head occupied between the shots.
“It was really solid playing same as yesterday, I shot bogey-free three-under yesterday so I just carried on with that momentum today really and made a few more birdies today and putting myself up there.”
In solo third sits Thailand’s Aunchisa Utama. The rookie and close friend of Order of Merit winner Trichat Cheenglab had another solid day at the office posting a round of 71 (-2) to move to six-under par.
Another rookie, Singapore’s Shannon Tan, is one back on five-under par after carding a 72 (-1) – a round which included one of the shots of the day on par-3 9th. She was joined by Czech’s Tereza Melecka late into the day thanks to a bogey-free 69 (-4).
Belgium’s Manon De Roey and Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck share sixth on four-under par. Four players then round off the top-10 in a tie for eighth on three-under par.
This includes overnight leader April Angurasaranee, who had a disappointing second day posting a round of 75 (+3) to drop down the leaderboard. The Thai star is joined by Germany’s Verena Gimmy, England’s Ellie Givens and South Africa’s Nicole Garcia.
After two rounds of action, the cut fell at five-over par with 71 players making it through to the weekend. The final two days of competition will be broadcast live around the world. Full details can be found here.
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