ANTALYA, Turkey: A crippling quadruple-bogey eight on Carya Golf Club's long and treacherous 10th hole saw overnight leader George Coetzee plummeting down the leaderboard in the second round of the $7-million Turkish Airlines Open on Friday.
"Two shots in the water did me in," said Coetzee who shot a pace-setting seven-under-par 64 in Thursday's opening round but was
nine shots worse yesterday as he signed for a two-over 73 to be on 137.
The 10th is a long par-4 with a lake all the way down the left and fronting the green. On Thursday Coetzee made a birdie three there but Friday his approach just caught the water just short of the green.
"If it had been a yard right I would have been fine and on the green. But it was a near miss and it cost me plenty because I reloaded and 'chunked' it back in the drink." Now he was playing six and after finally finding the putting surface he two-putted for an awful eight.
At that stage he had fallen from seven-under-par at the start of play to just two-under but, to his credit, he played the last eight holes in three under with birdies at 12, 15 and 16.
"You know, I'm still happy with the tournament so far. I'm hitting the ball better that I have done in the past and I fought back pretty well after that quadruple, and some good putts that simply refused to drop earlier in the round," said the 30-year-old from Pretoria Country Club who has spent 2016 rebuilding his swing and his golf generally after a surfing accident in September last year which resulted in a broken ankle with surgery and months of rehab to follow as his game took a major knock, this after playing some amazing golf in 2015 prior to the accident which earned him two European Tour victories that year.
In any event, Coetzee now finds himself a distant 10 shots back of runaway leader Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark who blitzed this fabulous - and by no means easy - Regnum Carya Resort course with a nine-under-par 62 yesterday and the 26-year-old who won last year's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland is sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard on an impressive 15-under 127.
Spain's Adrian Otaegui is lying joint second six shots back on 133 following a 63 alongside Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee (66) with four players one stroke further back on 134 - Italy's Matteo Manassero (68), England's David Horsey (67), China's Li Haotong (68) and Sweden's Lagergren (64).
Next best of the South Africans is Justin Walters who added a 70 to his opening 68 and he is on four under 138, and he is followed on 143 by SA Open champion Brandon Stone (a fine 68 yesterday) and Richard Sterne (70).
"After the tough times I've been through this year I still feel I'm swinging the club better than I ever have because I've worked so hard on that aspect of my game. A few loose shots cost me a lot today but I didn't give up after that eight and hopefully there's another low number coming this weekend," said Coetzee who is almost certain to make it into next week's Nedbank Golf Challenge as are Stone and Sterne although Walters, currently 94th in the Race to Dubai, will have to play some today and tomorrow if he is to be among the elite 78 heading to Sun City.
Grant Winter who is covering the Turkish Airlines Open as a guest
of the airline