Keith

Horne

The South African veteran needed a birdie at the par-5 18th to set the outright lead of 7-under but took six swishes to drop to T3 at the end of the morning session, a stroke behind joint-leaders Benjamin Hebert and Rasmus Hojgaard. He was also left to rue racking up a double bogey-7 on the par-5 7th. However, beyond those errors, Horne was able to splash red at eight holes. He ticked 2, 3 and 5 before a burst of five red numbers as he picked up shots at 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14. The 48-year-old has now shot all five rounds under par at Heritage after firing 70-69-71-68 when T13 on his only other appearance at the par 72 in 2015.

The 48-year-old has a strong record at Leopard Creek, boasting seven top 20s in this event including T11th last year when he opened 69-66-67 to sit second with a round to play before slumping to a Sunday 76. Starting at 10, he signed for a pair of pars before picking up a shot at 12 and then splashed red on the three par 5s at 13, 15 and 18 to turn in 4-under. After following a birdie at 1 with his only bogey of the day at 3, Horne pulled to within a shot of the lead thanks to circles at 5 and 6. A trio of closing pars secured his place in tied second and improved his lowest R1 score here by two strokes.

The 47-year-old was T13 in the inaugural edition at Heritage GC in 2015 and added T18 at this week’s venue, Four Seasons, in 2016. He’s racked up ten top tens in his 217 European Tour starts down the years although hasn’t managed one since 2016. Not surprisingly, that came in a co-sanctioned event when he took T4 in the BMW South African Open. He’s been in strong form on home soil with a run of 10-5-4 in his last three Sunshine Tour events although he missed the cut (74-71) in last week’s Hong Kong Open.

That’s three swings behind leader Graeme Storm who jumped to the top of the pack with a 63. Horne ended the day in T5 and that means he’s been in the top five after six successive round at Glendower GC across last year and this. Horne maintained his now familiar position on the leaderboard with a lap featuring four birdies and a lone bogey. Starting at 10, the veteran followed three opening pars with circles at 13 and 15. He gave one back at 16 but added par breakers at 1 and 8 to stay in position for a weekend push.

Horne wrote himself into the record books in this event by making hole-in-one at the par-3 12th in consecutive rounds in 2013. He painted nine birdies on his scorecard today although had to settle for par at his favorite hole! Instead, the red numbers came in two big bursts, the first wave comprising five in in first six holes before he connected four more from Nos. 13-16. Horne’s hopes of hitting the top of the leaderboard were hit by bogeys at 3, 11 and 17. Still, he’s very much part of the conservation heading into the weekend and, at minimum, he’ll hope to improve his best finish of T6 in 2008.

The veteran South African has been competing on the European Tour since the year 2000, although for most of that time he has been limited to co-sanctioned events and in 52 such starts he has 20 top 30 finishes, with seven of them top tens including T4 in this event 12 months ago, the first time he had finished inside the top 40 in four attempts at Glendower GC. For nine straight years from 2006 he had at least 11 starts every season, but only twice, in 2010 and 2012, did he crack the top 100 in the rankings, hinting that he’s always a little off the pace. The 45-year-old is an eight-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, but has never transferred the magic to the next step up.

The 45-year-old South Africa was never outside the top four through all four rounds 12 months ago and he stays there for a fifth consecutive end-of-round after his seven birdie-one bogey lap of the Gauteng course. There were three red numbers on the front nine at 2, 4 and 8. He made two more early on the return home, at 10 and 12, but dropped his only shot of the day at No. 15. Amends were made with back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17. He was not only in contention for this event a year ago, but also right in the running the last time the Tour was in South Africa, when T2 after 54 holes at the Alred Dunhill Championship in December. He’ll hope to have learned the lesson of his last round 76 which saw end that week T11.

That’s three swings behind fellow South African Brandon Stone. The 45-year-old banked nine birdies in yesterday’s 66 and circled seven more today. He started his count at 2 and 3 but the next, at 7, was sandwiched between bogeys at 5 and 8. Horne signed for a par at 10 and then made his move by connecting four straight circles from Nos. 11-14. Four closing pars saw him arrive at 14-under 202 alongside defending champion Charl Schwartzel and England’s Chris Hanson. If Horne manages to take victory on Sunday, it will come in his 200th European Tour start.

The South African was bogey free on his morning lap, circling birdies at 13, 14, 4 and 6 whilst posting pars the rest of the way. He failed to pick up shots at any of the three par 5s so may feel disappointed not to have shot lower and matched the current clubhouse lead of Scott Jamieson (65). Horne kept his card tidy with 3-for-3 scrambling stats after hitting 15 greens in regulation and splitting 11 (of 13) fairways. The 44-year-old has been in fine form on his home Sunshine Tour in recent weeks, winning the Sun City Challenge and taking fourth spot at the Wild Coast Sun Challenge last Sunday.

The South African, who won twice on the Sunshine Tour last year, looked set to eclipse early leader Morten Ørum Madsen after circling six birdies in his opening 12 holes. Five came in a seven-hole stretch either side of the turn. But a seventh birdie of the day at 17 came either side of bogeys at 16 and 18 and he dropped two off the lead held by Morten Ørum Madsen and David Horsey. Horne was T10 in last week’s Africa Open and is 4-for-4 at this venue so had some converging trends heading into this event.