Kingston leads by three on Sunshine Tour

FROM THE SUNSHINE TOUR WEBSITE
On a day when the next-best round was a humble little three-under 69, James Kingston fired a seven-under-par 65 to open a yawning three-shot gap after the second round of the Vodacom Business Origins of Golf event at Selborne Golf Club.
“I still can’t manage to find a round without a bogey,” he mused immediately afterwards, but then consoled himself with the fact that he produced a round of rare quality to lead at 13-under for the tournament.
“I hit all but two – or maybe three – of the greens in regulation,” he said, and his putting was precise enough to convert eight of those chances into birdies.
He slipped just once, three-putting on 17 for that pesky bogey when he and playing partner Des Terblanche were playing in the increasingly gloomy dusk and were battling to make the reads required.
While the light was adequate earlier in the round, he took the chance to read the greens really well: “I made two 20-footers, but I just kept hitting the ball in the right spot and giving myself a lot of chances,” he said.
It was an approach which didn’t work as spectacularly for second-placed Adilson Da Silva, who didn’t make a single bogey, but 17 pars and an eagle on 11 meant he signed for a 70.
“I chipped it in from 40 metres out,” he said, “but I missed a couple of makeable putts for birdie on the first nine, and I was two-putting a lot of the time.
That meant he finds himself with all the chasing to do ahead of the final round.
With the wind gusting all day under dark skies, it was a tough day for all the golfers, and Christiaan Basson and Ryan Tipping were the only other players to record rounds in the 60s with their three-under 69s. It was good enough to lift Basson into a share of seventh, nine shots behind Kingston, and to help Tipping make the cut.
First-round leader Nic Henning had a round which reflected the difficulties everyone faced: He made an eagle, three birdies and six bogeys to card a one-over 73, leaving him in third at seven-under and six behind the man he led by two at the start of the day.
“I played well; I was 10-under with five to play but I bogeyed the last three holes,” said Henning. “I just found the going a lot tougher today in the wind. It felt as if it was gusting from every direction when you were between the trees. It made it very tough on chipping and putting.”
Warren Abery and qualifier Theunis Spangenberg were at six-under after rounds of 72 and 71 respectively, while the 1998 champion from this event, Grant Muller was at five-under after his second round of 70.
But Kingston will have a chance again in the final round to try for that bogey-free round once more and wrap up the tournament.
“Today, I really thought I had it,” he said. “There’s always tomorrow.”


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