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Windhoek - Vaughn Groenewald shoots an eight-under-par 63 to lead after the first-round of the Nambian PGA, which is being played at the Windhoek Country Club on Thursday.
Justin Walters made a late charge but a bogey on the 18th brought him up just two strokes short. Instead, he had to be satisfied with a share of second behind Groenewald, whose eight-under-par looked invulnerable for most of the day.
He shared second with Christiaan Basson on six-under-par 65 and with Prinavin Nelson, who converted his fine play in the previous day's pro-am into a good score in the company of fellow-professionals.
Walters was mighty impressive in his pursuit of Groenewald's target, however: he reached the fourth hole in level-par after he birdied the third and bogeyed the fourth.
Then he set about the course, which was playing long because of heavy recent rains and which was even more threatening thanks to long rough. He made four consecutive birdies from five to eight, took a breather with a par on nine, made another birdie on 10 and then eagled the 497-metre par-five 11th. He failed to find another birdie and faltered on the 18th.
Groenewald, however, did no such thing. "I've changed my whole mindset," he said. "I'm here to enjoy it more and play aggressive golf. I'm not taking irons off tees - I'm taking driver and just trusting myself, and that's why I'm playing well."
The approach paid off as he started with a birdie on the 10th, and eagle on the 11th and another birdie on the 12th.
He made one more birdie ahead of the turn, reached in five-under 31, and then three in a row from the fifth to the seventh on his inward nine for a round which laid down a marker for the rest of the field.
"I always battle in the first rounds of tournaments," he said, "but today I got a good start and hit the ball on the fairways and the greens.
"The course just suits me," he added. "It's all right to left, so I can just aim it right and draw it in."
The leading Namibian was Joe Nawanga, who was steady throughout his round with three birdies on his opening nine. He looked to be heading for a good score with successive birdies on his third-last and penultimate holes, but then a bogey-four on the 178-metre ninth saw him finish on four-under.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
63 - Vaughn Groenewald
65 - Christiaan Basson, Justin Walters, Prinavin Nelson
66 - Albert Pistorius
67 - Divan Gerber, Allan Versfeld, Louis de Jager, Ryan Tipping, Jake Roos, Joe Nawanga (NAM)
68 - Johan Etsebeth, Michiel Bothma, Jean Hugo, Darren Fichardt, Tyrone Ferreira, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Branden Grace, Oliver Bekker, Alexandre Chopard (SUI), Ryan Thompson, Steven Ferreira
69 - Marius Beukes, Jake Redman, Mark Fensham, Chris Swanepoel, Divan van den Heever, Tyrone Mordt, Bradford Vaughan, Neil Cheetham (ENG), Dean O'Riley, JG Claassen, Wallie Coetsee, Walter Els, Mark Williams
70 - Francois Hanekom, Daniel Greene, Grant Veenstra, Grant Muller, Josh Cunliffe, Peter Karmis, Andrew Georgiou, Ockie Strydom, Robson Saurombe (ZIM), Jeremy Kavanagh (ENG), Jacques Blaauw, Jbe' Kruger, Alan Michell, Bennie van der Merwe, Omar Sandys
71 - Edwin Madigela (BOT), Ryan Cairns (ZIM), Alex Haindl, Warren Abery, Justin Harding, Ulrich van den Berg, David Hewan, Thabang Simon, Brandon Pieters, TC Charamba (ZIM), Doug McGuigan, Colin Nel, Matthew Carvell, Peter Wilson (ENG), Bryce Easton
72 - Neil Schietekat, James Kamte, Callie Swart, Dean Burmester, Darryn Lloyd, Derek Scullard
73 - Morne Buys, Johan du Buisson, Andre van Zyl, Lyle Rowe, Tranos Muradzikwa (Zim), Desvonde Botes, Theunis Spangenberg, PH McIntyre, Andre Cruse, Mark Murless
74 - Attie Schwartzel, Nic Henning, Ashley Roestoff, Irvin Mazibuko, Meshack Zwane (SWZ), Anthony Michael, JJ Senekal, Michael Dreyer, Teboho Sefatsa, Louis Moolman, Keenan Davidse, Toto Thimba (Jnr)
75 - Dean Schoultz (ZIM), Jeff Inglis (ENG), Lindani Ndwandwe, Francois van Vuuren, Michael du Toit, Derik Ferreira, Michael McGrady, Ernest Moloi (LES), Adrian Ford
76 - Garry Hill, Derick Petersen, Merrick Bremner, Patrick Spindler, Lourens Kleynhans, Ali Tsai
77 - Stuart Clark (WAL), John McClean, Kangwine Chiluba (ZAM), Blanche Lamprecht, Hardeep Thethy (KEN), Wynand Dingle, Tyrone Ryan, Vickesh Singh, Ryan Strauss, Cameron Esau
78 - Mohammad Mandhu (ZIM)
79 - Johan Bekker, George Sauerman, Andrew Odoh (NGA)
80 - Louis Calitz, Onkoshi Eriksson (FIN)
83 - Wandile Gininda
85 - Hilton Appel
90 - Justin Jordaan, Adri Basson (NAM)
RTD - Ryan Hood, Thapelo Pabalinga (BOT)
DSQ - Tsietsi Chabangu
