Tandi McCallum made two birdies and four bogeys on Thursday on her way to a two-over-par 76 and the 36-hole lead in the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s SunBet Cape Town Ladies Open at Royal Cape Golf Club.
It was a day of changeable weather in the second round, but McCallum was able to navigate the changes in conditions well enough to be one clear of Cara Gorlei, Thalia Martin and Nicole Garcia who shared second on two-over-par ahead of the cut.
“It was quite a mixed bag today,” said McCallum. “Conditions were very varied. It started off with a lot more rain that yesterday. There was still a bit of a north-wester, but nearly as hard, so the rain was coming straight down, rather than sideways. The course had a lot of rain overnight, so the ball was stopping off the tee and on the green. It was very much target golf, but it was playing quite heavy, so club selection was a bit more challenging today because the ball wasn’t flying as far.
“Then the clouds burnt off and the sun came out, so the ball started going a bit further. Start swinging a little freer as all the rain gear comes off, so the front nine and the back nine were two very different nines and you had to keep your wits about you.”
The tale of two halves could be seen on her scorecard, with three of her bogeys coming on the front nine within the first five holes. But there was only one dropped shot on the homeward nine, and, with her birdie on the 11th, that meant she came home in level-par to be one-over heading into the final round.
Of the pursuers, Gorlei had the best round, with her two-under-par 72 one of just three rounds under par on the day. The trio led by Gorlei in second were one clear of Maiken Bing Paulsen, Lejan Lewthwaite and South African Women’s Open champion Lee-Anne Pace, all on trhee-over.
For McCallum, it’s a question of more of the same in better weather for the final round. “I’m going to try and keep my strategy the same,” she said. “My core strategy is good. The weather is going to be very different tomorrow – sunny, and the south-easter will be blowing. It will be a different course for everybody. I’m going to play one shot at a time, as cliched as that sounds. But I’m going to have fun tomorrow, not get too serious, and see what comes.”
