Jacques P de Villiers is leading the seven-way tie for the lead on the opening day of the Big Easy Tour Kempton Park event, where all seven golfers shot five-under-par 67s at Kempton Park Golf Club.
He co-leads with Combrinck Smit, Wayne Stroebel, England’s Chris Cannon, Irvin Mazibuko, reigning champion Pieter Kruger and Teagan Moore. A bogey on the par-four sixth spoilt what could have been a perfect round for De Villiers, and that dropped shot brought the pressure upon him at the summit.
Nevertheless, he’s happy with the finish.
‘I’m very chuffed. I played very nicely; I hit the ball really well, rolled the ball nicely,’ said De Villiers, adding that he has been working very hard on his game. ‘Consistency… I have been working very hard on consistency and trying to eliminate as many mistakes as possible,’ he said.
Smit was just as happy after his round, even though he dropped shots on the fourth, 15th and 17th holes. ‘I played quite well today. I hit the ball decently and made a few good up-and-downs for pars,’ Smit said, ‘and, I think the strength has been the putter. On this course, if you are putting well you can score. It’s not very difficult, I would say, but you have to capitalise on the par-fives.’
Mazibuko credits his fine display today to making few mistakes. ‘I am very happy because I played well. I didn’t make too many mistakes and where I did, I recovered well,’ he said, ‘and my short game is also looking good. This is my home course and I’m going to go for a win here.’
Reigning champion Kruger signed for a flawless round in the first round of his title-defending event. The trio of Desne Van den Berg, Allister de Kock and Riekus Nortje share eighth after they all carded rounds of four-under-par 68.
Leader on the Order of Merit, Maritz Wessels, shares 11th with Zimbabwe’s Greg Bentley, Neezy Thubisi, Anton Haig, Simon Kruger and Jonathan Waschefort on three-under 69.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
67 – Jacques P de Villiers, Combrinck Smit, Wayne Stroebel, Chris Cannon, Irvin Mazibuko, Pieter Kruger, Teagan Moore
68 – Desne Van Den Bergh, Allister de Kock, Riekus Nortje
69 – Greg Bentley, Anton Haig, Neezy Thubisi, Simon Kruger, Maritz Wessels, Jonathan Waschefort, Francois Coetzee
70 – John Mc Clean, Gerard du Plooy, Callie Swart, Conway Kunneke, Antonio Costa, Siphiwe Siphayi
71 – Bryn Flanagan, Jason Smith, Gert Myburgh, Phumlani Maluka, Zack Byrd, Etienne Bond, Tyrone Ryan, Thabang Simon, Darin de Smidt, Russel Franz, N.J. Arnoldi, Cameron Esau, Jacquin Hess, Herman Loubser, Antonio Rosado, Wynand Dingle
72 – Stuart Smith, Andre Cruse, Bennie van der Merwe, Bryce McCabe, Bradford Vaughan, Dwayne Basson, Andi Dill, PH McIntyre, Coert Groenewald
73 – Arthur Horne, Gideon Pienaar, David McIntyre, Matias Calderon, Quintin Wilsnach, Damian Naicker, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu, Tyron McComb, Teboho Sefatsa, Sipho Bujela, Brett Liddle, Daniel Hammond, Neal Herman, Altaaf Bux, Jaco Mouton
74 – Duane Keun, Dylan Docherty, Bryce Bibby, Paul de Beer, Kenneth Dube
75 – Lincon Cele, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Bryandrew Roelofsz, Drikus van der Walt, Morne Buys
76 – Aubrey Beckley
77 – TB Mathebula, Adriel Poonan, Michael Dreyer, Richie O’Donovan, Jeff Hopkins, Gitesh Maharaj, Jabulane Mabilane
78 – Shane Granger, Omar Sandys, Divan Gerber, Jeff Inglis
79 – Sean Bradley, George Brown
82 – Songz Sonamzi