A run of five consecutive birdies from the third hole was enough to give South Africa’s Brandon Pieters a one shot lead after the first round of the fog-delayed Africa Open at East London Golf Club.
Having started from the ninth hole, Pieters had already threatened the leaderboard by covering the first four holes in 3-under par, courtesy of an eagle on the 11th and a birdie at the 12th hole. Bogeys at the 13th and 15th holes came between further birdies at the 14th and 16th holes, and a bogey on the last saw the South African, ranked 815 in the World rankings turn in 2-under before he went on his birdie blitz.
Pieters said: “It’s always all about putting, and I didn’t really miss anything from inside ten feet today. All good putting, that’s all.”
Pieters’ round of 66 sees him one shot ahead of a six-way tie for second place; the group including England’s Miles Tunnicliff having carded rounds of 67. Tunnicliff is playing this event under a sponsor’s exemption, having lost his European Tour car.
English pair Ross McGowan and Robert Rock were joined on five under by South Africans Thabang Simon, Jbe Kruger, Doug McGuigan and Scot Lloyd Saltman, while defending champion Charl Schwartzel finished with a 69 for 4-under par.
Schwartzel joins Darren Clarke – one of our tipster picks – on the 4-under mark along with nine other players. Of the other tipster picks, British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen finished with a round of 70 to close on 3-under par, while Gareth Maybin bogeyed his last two holes to slip back to 2-under par.
Retief Goosen, one of the tournament favourites, struggled badly in his first round mixing three birdies with five bogeys to finish on two-over par.
