Herman Loubser produced yet another fine display of golf to stay in the lead when he carded a round-two five-under 66 to stretch his lead to four shots in the Big Easy Tour Road To #3 at Reading Country Club.
He is 14-under for the week and still haunted by the playoff loss he suffered two weeks ago at Modderfontein, Loubser has his sights on the title following 36 holes of great golf from the Theewaterskloof player.
“Losing it in a playoff definitely makes you want to win a little bit more,” he said after his round on Wednesday. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had the lead going into the final round and it’s a good feeling. If you lead going into the final round it means you’re doing something right and you just have to keep going.”
He did a lot of things right in the second round. A birdie on the second and a birdie on each of the par-fives on the front nine – the fourth and eighth holes – marked a perfect front nine. A bogey after the turn gave Loubser a little scare but he was quick to shrug it off; making birdies on the par-five 12th, the 14th and 16th holes to sign for a 66.
“You just have to keep it in good positions off the tee box around here,” he says, thinking about how to approach the final round. “I’ve done that for the first two days and it’s made the course scorable for me. Hopefully, I can replicate all of it tomorrow.”
He will have to replicate the performances of the first two days in Alberton because lurking, albeit four strokes behind, is amateur Christiaan Burke whose 10-under-par total sees him occupying second ahead of the final round. He signed for a 67 and two strokes further back, lies Keagan Thomas on a total of eight-under.
Amateur Samuel Simpson shares fourth with Michael Kok at seven-under-par while Erhard Lambrechts was among those who made moving day count; carding a 65 to play himself into a three-way share of sixth with Henning Du Plooy and red-hot amateur, Ryan Van Velzen at six-under-par.
Sunshine Tour campaigners Dylan Mostert, Dwayne Basson and Luca Filipi share ninth with Therion Nel and amateur Kyle De Beer and they are five-under-par.