Daniel Hammond was part of a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard in the opening round of the co-sanctioned Big Easy Tour-MENA Tour’s The Roar at Waterkloof Golf Club on Tuesday.
Joined by Kenya’s Stefan Engell Andersen and JJ Senekal on seven-under 65, the South African began cautiously as he made pars on the 10th and 11th, his first two holes, and three consecutive birdies thereafter.
He made birdie on the par-three 18th. His putter was again on song on the homeward nine as he made four more birdies on that stretch, while dropping a shot on eight, a par-three hole.
‘I’m very, very chuffed,’ Hammond said. ‘I hit the ball really good the whole day; made a few clutch-putts coming in towards the end, but unfortunately bogeyed my second last hole. I missed a little five-footer but I’m overall very happy for the day.’
He will be wary of the threat posed by the pair with whom he shares the lead, because Senekal has been in hot form on the Sunshine Tour since the first event of the new season, and only a win will satisfy him at this point. He has three top-10 finishes in five starts on the main tour, and after shooting a flawless seven-under 65 round he didn’t mince his words about his intentions.
‘Today, not a lot of mistakes off the tee,’ he said, ‘I think I hit 15 greens. The confidence has been high on the Sunshine Tour the whole year. I’m just trying to bring that here and try to show the boys that I can play golf and that I’m out here for one thing; and that’s to win.
‘Obviously, getting through the qualifiers was the first step, obviously got that right. And from here on it’s just to win and go home and go have some holiday,’ Senekal said.
Chilean Matias Calderon led a five-man tie on five-under to share fourth. Among those sharing the same position are Breyten Meyer, who won the South to East Challenge at Ebotse a fortnight ago, and Danie van Niekerk.
Making up the top-10 after round one in Pretoria, all on four-under-par 68 at ninth position, are amateur Karabo Mokoena, Andrew van der Knaap, PH McIntrye, Jason Smith, Chilean Cyril Suk, Dylan O’Leary and Aubrey Beckley.
Picture of Hammond courtesy of Johan Rynners/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
Scores:
65 – Daniel Hammond, Stefan Engell Andersen, JJ Senekal
67 – Matias Calderon, Breyten Meyer, Danie Van Niekerk, Jake Redman, Etienne Bond
68 – Karabo Mokoena, Andrew van der Knaap, PH McIntyre, Jason Smith, Cyril Suk, Dylan O’Leary, Aubrey Beckley
69 – Jamie Elson, Matthew Spacey, Antonio Costa, Jeff Inglis, Abhishek Jha, Irvin Mazibuko, Fredrik From, Henric Sturehed, Teagan Moore
70 – Jonathan Waschefort, Arkesh Bhatia, Heinrich Bruiners, Jacques P de Villiers, Antonio Rosado, Toto Thimba, Combrinck Smit, Tyrone Ryan, Matthew Williams, Bradford Vaughan, Justin Turner, Gert Myburgh, Pieter Kruger
71 – Jason Diab, Craig Hinton, Ben Amor, Paul de Beer, Morne Buys, Craig Kieswetter, Jesper Alm, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Chris van der Meulen, Luke Jerling, Jordan Garnish
72 – Simon Kruger, Bryce Bibby, Maritz Wessels, Marco de Beer, N.J. Arnoldi, Andrew Odoh, Damon Stephenson, Dylan Docherty, Michael Palmer, Allister de Kock, Francois Coetzee
73 – Phumlani Maluka, Bryce McCabe, Omar Sandys, Teboho Sefatsa, Elliot Bradley, Desne Van Den Bergh, Jack Duthie, Adriel Poonan, Brett Liddle, Quintin Wilsnach, Paul Colditz, Coert Groenewald, Sipho Bujela, Sean Bradley
74 – Kevin Rhoderick, Max Smith, Wayne Stroebel, Tiago Lobo, Ganeev Giddie, Dylan Kok, Thabang Simon, Scott Campbell, Riekus Nortje, Cameron Esau, Burger Heckroodt, Jaco Mouton
75 – Wynand Dingle, Byron Garvie, Mark Murless, Daniel Scourfield, Stuart Smith, Kenneth Dube
76 – Bennie van der Merwe, Duane Keun, Andrew Burmester, Jacquin Hess, Dayne Moore, Russel Franz, Andi Dill
77 – Sami Keating, Matt Carroll, Dwayne Basson, Gerard du Plooy
78 – Bryn Flanagan, Roux Jeffery, Neal Herman, Edward Kent
80 – Sam Hobday, Neezy Thubisi
81 – Michael Dreyer, Heino Havenga