Ruan Korb has been hitting the ball pretty well lately, and it showed on Thursday as he blazed to a second-round of eight-under-par 64 in the Sunshine Tour’s Time Square Casino Challenge at Wingate Park to move into the lead ahead of the final day.
With the second round not completed after only getting underway at 10am because of poor early morning weather, the 26-year-old left-hander may not have sole possession of the lead after 36 holes have been completed and the cut made, bit, for now, he is three shots clear of first-round leader Deon Germishuys at 13-under-par. Marin Rohwer was also on 10-under, with two holes still to play when bad light set in.
“I’ve been striking the ball very well for the last two days,” said Korb. “Actually, it’s more like the last two weeks, because I hit it well at Sun City too.”
That ball-striking was showcased particularly impressively on the second hole of the day, as he followed up his opening birdie with an eagle three on the par-five. “I had a good drive down the left of the fairway, and I had 178 to the flag,” he said. “I hit a nine-iron to 10 feet right of the pin and made the putt.
“Actually, I made a lot of putts from inside 10 feet today, and that’s one of the reasons I scored so well today. I changed the grip on my putter recently. I put a Scotty Cameron grip on my Spider putter, and it feels pretty good now.”
He made two more birdies ahead of the turn, but dropped a shot on the ninth to head into the back nine after carding 31 on his way out. There were four more birdies for him as he came home in 33, and line himself up for a win which would bring him more than the simple pleasure of the triumph.
“I’m not exempt for the Joburg Open, the Alfred Dunhill Championship or the SA Open,” he said. “So a win here would take care of a lot of business for me. And if I don’t win, it’s off to the qualifiers for those events, because I really want to play in them.”
With two top-10s on the Sunshine Tour since the restart after the Covid-19 enforced break, he is certainly trending in the right direction.
