Golf
Blainey bursts into contention at Killarney─── 08:20 Thu, 09 Feb 2017
Gregg Blainey from England reigned in Dean O’Riley with a brilliant start in the second round of the Race to Q-School #15 to grab a share of the 36-hole lead at Killarney Country Club on Wednesday.
Play had to be called off due to flooding at the Johannesburg course on day one, but not before Matthew Spacey from Dainfern set the clubhouse target at six under, O’Riley tucked into second at five under and Blainey clocked in with a one over 71.
The 36-year-old from Wokingham was on fire on day two, though, and burst out of the blocks with four successive birdies to rocket up the leaderboard.
When Spacey hit the skids with four bogeys in a row from the sixth, Blainey kept his foot on the pedal and reeled in further gains at seven, 15 and 18. A superb six under 64 earned him a share of pole position at five under 134 with O’Riley, who returned a 70, and a shot at a maiden IGT Challenge Tour win.
Spacey’s downward spiral ended with a 73 and a share of third with Coert Groenewald, Werner van Wyk and Martin Rohwer, while Gary Doust from Belgium carded a second best of the day 67 to join South African pair NJ Arnoldi and Dylan O’Leary at two under.
South Korea’s DK Kim and Bryce McCabe rounded out the top 10 at one under.
Blainey learned about the IGT Challenge Tour during the European Tour’s Qualifying School in 2015.
He came out to South Africa in February last year to give it a go and has been campaigning full-time on the country’s premier development golf circuit to prepare for the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School in early March.
“I quit golf for four years after two wrist surgeries and a back operation in 2008,” he said. “I was told I’d never compete again and I completed the PGA Course in England and started coaching.
“When I felt up to it, I began competing in local events and built on it from there. I’d like to give it one more shot, so that’s why I came down to South Africa and began playing the IGT Challenge Tour circuit. If I make it at Q-School, I’ll play the Sunshine Tour. If I don’t, I’ll have to make some choices about the future.”
Blainey said he enjoys the competitive environment and the standard on the IGT Challenge Tour and it sure shows in his results.
He counts two third place finishes and a further four top 10 finishes in his 10 starts in the Race to Q-School Series and he was thoroughly pleased to be in contention after a tie for 44th last week.
“I went home over Christmas to visit the family and I never touched a club, so there was quite a bit of rust to shake off, but it definitely feels like the game is there now,” he said. “Now I just need to ride this and get the job done.”
Second Round Scores
135 - Gregg Blainey (ENG) 71 64, Dean O'Riley 65 70
137 - Coert Groenewald 67 70, Matthew Spacey 64 73, Werner Van Wyk 67 70, Martin Rohwer 69 68
138 - Dylan O'Leary 69 69, Gary Daoust (BEL) 71 67, NJ Arnoldi 70 68
139 - Dongkwan Kim (KOR) 69 70, Bryce McCabe 69 70
140 - Oscar Stark (SWE) 71 69, Martin Dewhurst (ENG) 69 71, Duane Keun 72 68
141 - Paul De Beer 68 73, Matt Bright 70 71, Sam Botham (ENG) 69 72, Justin Turner 71 70, Damian Naicker 71 70, Conway Kunneke 71 70, Jabulane Mabilane 69 72
142 - Francois Coetzee 67 75, Shaun Barrett AMA 72 70
143 - John McClean (NIR) 68 75, Edoardo Torrieri (ITA) 69 74, Gilson Filho (BRA) 73 70, Kyle Barker 71 72, Otto van Greunen 75 68, Alex Van Heerden AMA 72 71
144 - Paul Colditz AMA 70 74, Shaun van Tonder 75 69, Thabang Simon 70 74, WM Coetzee AMA 71 73, Divan Marais 70 74, Lincon Cele 71 73, Bryce Myburgh 73 71, Jonathan Waschefort 72 72, Bennie Van Der Merwe 73 71, Ruan Korb AMA 72 72
145 - Jason Rossiter AMA 73 72, Calvin Caldeira 71 74, Thabi Ngcobo 72 73, Philip Geerts AMA (ITA) 72 73, Leon Visser AMA 72 73, Stefan Labuschagne AMA 70 75, Arno Pretorius AMA 77 68
146 - Tertius Van Den Berg 73 73, Shane Irwin AMA (IRE) 73 73, Richard O'Donovan (IRE) 74 72, Stephan De Beer 77 69, Michael Kok AMA 72 74, Brandon Lydon AMA 75 71, Wayne Stroebel 75 71, Quintin Crause 74 72, Norman Beggs 74 72, Thriston Lawrence 73 73
147 - Hendrikus Stoop AMA 71 76, Eric Nel AMA 74 73, Stephan Erasmus AMA 71 76, Clinton Cheia 70 77
Missed the cut:-
148 - Shalan Govender 77 71, Ruhan Van Dijk AMA 76 72, John Bele 75 73, Gareth Akers 77 71, CJ Levey 73 75
149 - Matt Wollmann (ZIM) 73 76, Dino Di Carlo AMA 72 77, Andrew Van Der Knaap AMA 79 70, Marco De Beer AMA 75 74, Phillip Kruse AMA 73 76, Ryan Wingrove AMA 77 72
150 - Reinard Vermeulen AMA 73 77, Jadrick Fourie AMA 78 72, Christian Basson AMA 77 73
151 - Dylan Morton AMA 77 74, Luke Brown AMA 75 76, LJ Lowies AMA 76 75
152 - Ryan Woolley AMA 73 79, Eric Park AMA (KOR) 78 74, Joubert Van Eeden 74 78, Craigen Clough AMA 75 77
153 - Duan Nagel AMA 75 78, Dwayne Coetzee 77 76, Jack Kutumane 79 74, Wesley Baptiste 77 76, Lydon Charnley AMA 74 79, Matthew Vogel 74 79, Dylan Docherty 77 76, Teagan Moore 79 74
154 - Herman Steyn AMA 74 80, Ricardo Towell 83 71, Michael Dreyer 78 76, Tudor Bismark (ZIM) 77 77, Cameron Gunning 76 78
155 - Phumlani Maluka AMA 79 76, Richard Tsai AMA 77 78, Jason Ackerman AMA 75 80
156 - Albert Visser AMA 78 78, Burger Heckroodt 74 82, Adam Baker AMA 77 79
157 - Robert Braithwaite 78 79
158 - Dean Bakos AMA 77 81, Jack Duthie AMA 77 81
160 - Alpheus Kelapile 75 85, Willem Brummer 82 78
161 - Mitchell Lightfoot AMA 83 78
166 - Steven Jacobs AMA 83 83
167 - Ntswelengwe Tsatsimpe AMA 81 86
169 - Gareth Anderson AMA 91 78
171 - Daniel Joubert AMA 81 90
WDN - Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71 WDN
RTD - Gary Jutzen AMA 78 RTD
Missed the cut:-
RTD - Jacques Snyman AMA (NAM) RTD, Marais Visagie RTD
- Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of theIGT Challenge Tour