Home favourite Brett Rumford of Australia continued to delight the galleries by taking the second round lead with a seven-under-par 65 at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth on Friday.
The Perth native safely progressed into the third round with his two-day total of 13-under-par 131 and remains well poised to make it into Sunday’s round which will feature an innovative six-hole matchplay knockout at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club.
Australia’s David Bransdon, who had earlier taken the morning clubhouse lead, was also well positioned to take his place among the top-24 players for Sunday’s finale after he posted the day’s lowest score of 64 to take second place.
Reigning Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit champion Johannes Veerman of the United States meanwhile continued his impressive form when he returned with a 68 to put himself into a good position for the knockout stage too.
With his father on his bag again this week, Veerman is tied for fourth after two rounds and knows it could well turn out to be another formidable partnership at the AUD$1.75 million event that is tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour.
The cut was set at two-under with 67 players that included Major winner Louis Oosthuizen featuring in the third round. The field will be further reduced with a second cut made to the leading 24 players after 54 holes. The top-eight players after the third round will be rewarded with an automatic seeding into the second matchplay round.
Interesting facts of the day:
- Brett Rumford has never finished outside the top-20 in each of his last three appearances at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.
- Despite losing his European Tour card last season, Rumford is continuing his good form at home having finished fifth at the Australian PGA Championship in December 2016.
- Born in the United States, Johannes Veerman’s father is Dutch while his mother is Indonesian. He also has a brother and sister, who were born in the Philippines and Thailand.
- Veerman clinched the Asian Development Tour (ADT) Order of Merit title in 2016 with one win and five top-10s.
- Veerman’s father was on his bag when he secured his breakthrough in Chinese Taipei last year.
- Veerman did not miss a single start in nine starts on the Asian Tour in 2016 and is coming into this week on the back of a tied-12th finish in Malaysia last week.
- Louis Oosthuizen’s last matchplay event was at the WGC-Dell Match Play in March 2016 where he lost to World number one Jason Day in the final.
Key Quotes
Brett Rumford (Aus), Second round 65 (-7), Total 131 (-13)
I’m pretty tired today as it was harder than I actually anticipated. The weather forecast was supposed to be only about 31 today, but felt like about 40. It was really just about keeping up the fluids and keeping up the energy levels. It’s one of those things that someone’s going to have to finish first in the qualifier but there’s no real advantage between 1 and 24. They’re all great players here this week and match play of six holes, it’s a bit of a lottery. So obviously just getting your foot in the door and qualifying is the number one key, that’s it.
David Brandson (Aus) Second round 64 (-8) Total 133 (-11)
It was nice for the putter to work early. It worked early last week on the first round, but it was nice to get it going early and then make a few more around the turn, and then she got a bit cold toward the end, but that’s okay. Well, you need to be in that top 8 after three rounds, so I’m in a good position with that. Top 24 obviously, that’s the goal because if you’re not in the top 24 you don’t get to be part of the fun on Sunday.
Johannes Veerman (Usa) Second round 68 (-4) Total 135 (-9)
It was very windy this morning but I hit the ball so well yesterday and I knew that if I can continue doing so, it wouldn’t even matter much even if it was blowing hard. My father and I have a good track record and it’s a lot of fun. He has a lot more forgiveness from me instead of a regular caddie. It’s a different feeling. You usually play to win but I guess for this week, you try to get into the top-eight first and see what happens. I haven’t played matchplay unless you consider playing with my brother and friends!
Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) Second round 68 (-4), Total137 (-7)
I’m basically just playing to get into the top-eight after Saturday and if not, be in the top-24. So I’m just trying not to do anything silly out there by taking on risky shots, I’m just plodding along and see how many pars I can make and how many birdie opportunities I can get. I’m trying to play pretty safe off the tee and just give myself good iron shots in. I feel pretty confident with the iron play at the moment but just struggling to get a good roll on the greens.
Leading Scores after round 2 of the ISPS HANDA WORLD SUPER 6 PERTH being played at the par 72, 6531 Metres Lake Karrinyup GC course (am – denotes amateur):
131 – Brett Rumford (AUS) 66-65.
133 – David Bransdon (AUS) 69-64.
134 – Steven Jeffress (AUS) 68-66.
135 – Lucas Herbert (AUS) 67-68, Johannes Veerman (USA) 67-68.
136 – Matthew Millar (AUS) 71-65, Adam Blyth (AUS) 67-69, Daniel Fox (AUS) 67-69, Sebastian Heisele (GER) 67-69.
137 – Duncan Stewart (SCO) 72-65, Casey O’Toole (USA) 67-70, Josh Younger (AUS) 68-69, Ryan Fox (NZL) 69-68, Ryan Evans (ENG) 69-68, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 69-68, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 70-67.
138 – Michael Long (NZL) 69-69, Hideto Tanihara (JPN) 67-71, Jordan Smith (ENG) 68-70, Thomas Detry (BEL) 71-67, Austin Connelly (CAN) 69-69, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 70-68, Robert Allenby (AUS) 69-69, Nick Cullen (AUS) 69-69, Jason Scrivener (AUS) 67-71.
139 – Jake Higginbottom (AUS) 69-70, S S P Chawrasia (IND) 71-68, Taylor Macdonald (AUS) 68-71, Mark Foster (ENG) 66-73, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA) 68-71, Ashun Wu (CHN) 72-67, Chiragh Kumar (IND) 70-69.
140 – Ben Eccles (AUS) 71-69, Adam Bland (AUS) 71-69, Prom Meesawat (THA) 70-70, Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 68-72, Natipong Srithong (THA) 69-71, Pep Angles (ESP) 68-72, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 71-69, James Heath (ENG) 69-71.
