The chase for the title is on
It was a day of ups and downs on the leader board at the South African Stroke Play Championship, at Benoni Country Club, as a sizeable pack of international challengers kept the chase on Scotland’s Bradley Neil, who took the first position on Thursday.
The 20-year-old amateur, from Blairgowie, sank five birdies and 13 pars in a clinical performance, for a round of 67, to take the Thursday night lead with a 13-under-par 203.
Wednesday night’s leader, Dermot McElroy, is still in the running at just one shot off the pace, while South Africans Jason Smith and Stefan Cronje are just two shots back, heading into the final title chase on Friday.
The Scottish leader also has local favourite Christiaan Bezuidenhout as a challenger.
The Nigel golfer is just four off the pace.
Neil, a member of the visiting Scottish Golf Union Men’s National Squad, hopes the same game plan will carry him to the podium on Friday.
“I got off to a pretty slow start, but the birdie at the eighth gave me a little momentum,” he said.
“I birdied the next two holes, and picked up two more at the 13th and14th.
“Nothing too spectacular, but any time you can finish a round with a clean card you’ve had a great day.”
