TSHWANE, 4 March 2015 – South African number two ranked player Jason Smith safely navigated his way into the last 16 of the Match Play at the Sanlam South African Amateur Championship at Silver Lakes Golf Estate on Wednesday morning.

As the top-ranked SA player left in the draw, the former SA Stroke Play champion ousted fellow Gauteng North amateur Philip Kruse 5&4 with some solid play which yielded four birdies and no drops in a remarkably consistent round of knockout golf.

“I just hit some fairways, greens and made some putts,” said the Irene Golf Club golfer.

“The first two birdies I made were from outside three metres. I waited for him to make mistakes and made my birdies when I had the chance.”

With the top two seeds – Tristen Strydom and Greig Marchbank – knocked out on day one of the Match Play on Tuesday, Smith said he is not feeling any extra pressure.

“In match play you can win 9&8 the one day and lose one down the next,” he said

“You’ve just got to go out there and play your best no matter who you play against. We saw yesterday with Tristen and Adriel Poonan. Adriel is outside the top 300 in the rankings, so I don’t think the rankings count for much in match play.

“If the guy makes a putt on the day to beat you on the hole, it doesn’t matter what his ranking is.”

In other notable results in the morning, Gauteng North’s Teaghan Gauche fell to a 5&3 defeat at the hands of Country Club Johannesburg’s Gareth Clements, Southern Cape’s Jovan Rebula beat Gordon Neale 3&1 and Scotland’s Calum Fyfe beat Modderfontein golfer Werner van Wyk 3&1.

The Cewder Golf Club player made his first hole-in-one in tournament golf at the 184-metre par three 16th with a seven iron to close out his match in emphatic fashion.

The fight for a spot in the quarter-finals starts at midday.

Follow the live scoring at https://tournament.handicaps.co.za/albport/golfclubtv.jsp?pg=71878336&ps=71877927

PHOTO – Former South Africa Stroke Play champion Jason Smith advanced to the top 16 in the Sanlam South African Amateur Championship at Silver Lakes Golf Estate; credit Catherine Kotze/SASPA.