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Johannesburg - A birdie-birdie-eagle front-nine start powered Nic Henning to a course record-equalling 62 Thursday and a one-stroke Joburg Open first-round lead.
The 45-year-old is one shot ahead of compatriots Titch Moore and Tjaart van der Walt and Belgian Thomas Pieters at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.
Another couple of South Africans, Dean Burmester and Garth Mulroy, lie a further stroke behind with Australian Jason Schrivener.
Henning, a 45-year-old native of Western Cape seaside resort Knysna, did not perform like a golfer without a tournament triumph in nine years.
It did help, though, that he played the west course -- considered easier that the east -- in the two-course European Tour-Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned event.
Four under after three holes, Henning snatched three more front-nine birdies for a half of 29, seven under in perfect, late South African summer conditions.
His hot streak cooled on the inward nine with just two birdies, but he did not drop a shot and matched the eight-year course record of South African Desvonde Botes,
"It was fantastic," four-time Sunshine Tour winner Henning told reporters.
"For each shot you stand over the ball and decide to hit it as best you can. That worked today and hopefully I can carry it on.
"It has been a long time since I shot a 62," said the golfer without a top-10 finish in five years.
"Over the last few seasons my scores have been really terrible and it is nice to get a good round under the belt.
"It proved to me that I can still play well."
"I will try to hit the fairways tomorrow and put myself in good positions. It is about taking every shot as it comes."
Dane Joachim Hansen, among six golfers to card 65s, needed only 28 shots to cover the second nine of the west course.
He picked up an eagle and five birdies and did not score higher than three on six consecutive holes from the 12th.
South African George Coetzee launched his Joburg Open title defence with a 66 while new Europe Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke from Northern Ireland had to settle for a 72.
Scores of the Joburg Open played on the Royal Johannesburg & Kensington’s West Course (RSA unless otherwise specified):
-9 - Nic Henning 62
-8 - Titch Moore 63, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 63, Tjaart van der Walt 63
-7 - Dean Burmester 64, Garth Mulroy 64, Jason Scrivener (AUS) 64
-6 - Joachim B. Hansen (DEN) 65, Scott Henry (SCO) 65, Wallie Coetsee 66, Byeong-hun An (KOR) 65, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 66, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 65, Andrew Curlewis 65, Simon Dyson (ENG) 65
-5 - Peter Lawrie (IRL) 66, Sihwan Kim (USA) 66, Renato Paratore (ITA) 66, Jacques Blaauw 67, George Coetzee 66, David Howell (ENG) 66, Ben Evans (ENG) 67, Niclas Fasth (SWE) 66, Thomas Aiken 67, Le Roux Ferreira 66, Victor Riu (FRA) 66
-4 - Anthony Michael 68, Johan Edfors (SWE) 67, Edouard Espana (FRA) 67, Francesco Laporta (ITA) 67, Bryce Easton 67, Thriston Lawrence 67, Kevin Phelan (IRL) 67, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 68, Anthony Wall (ENG) 67, Keith Horne 68, Kristoffer Broberg (SWE) 67, Dawie Van der Walt 67, Jordi Garcia Pinto (ESP) 68, Ryan Tipping 67, PH McIntyre 68, Stuart Manley (WAL) 67
-3 - Sean Jacklin (SCO) 68, Andrew McArthur (SCO) 69, Matthew Nixon (ENG) 69, Paul Waring (ENG) 68, Matt Ford (ENG) 68, Tom Lewis (ENG) 68, Darren Fichardt 68, David Horsey (ENG) 68, Ryan Evans (ENG) 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 69, JJ Senekal 68, Gareth Maybin (NIR) 69, Nacho Elvira (ESP) 69, Pablo Martin Benavides (ESP) 68, Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM) 68, Ulrich van den Berg 68, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 69, Richard Sterne 69, Richard Bland (ENG) 68, Pedro Oriol (ESP) 69, Eduardo de la Riva (ESP) 69
-2 - Hennie du Plessis 70, Tristen Strydom (AMA) 69, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 70, Warren Abery 70, Jared Harvey 70, Jaco Ahlers 70, Jbe' Kruger 69, Brandon Stone 69, Todd Sinnott (AUS) 69, Andrew Georgiou 69, Shaun Smith 69, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 70, Daniel Brooks (ENG) 69, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 70, Lee Slattery (ENG) 69, Jaco Van Zyl 69, Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 70, Carlos Del Moral (ESP) 69, Desvonde Botes 70, Chris Swanepoel 70, Chris Lloyd (ENG) 69, Bennie van der Merwe 70, Jens Fahrbring (SWE) 70, Ockie Strydom 69
-1 - Vaughn Groenewald 70, Shaun Norris 70, Mikael Lundberg(SWE) 71, Richard McEvoy (ENG) 71, Andrew McLardy 71, David Drysdale (SCO) 70, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 71, Peter Karmis 71, Tyrone Mordt 70, Tyrone Ferreira 71, Daniel Greene 71, Max Orrin (ENG) 71, Mark Murless 71, Colin Nel 71, Daan Huizing (NED) 70, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 70, Ricardo Santos (POR) 71, Johan Carlsson (SWE) 70, Justin Walters 71, Haydn Porteous 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr 71, Alexander Noren (SWE) 71, Merrick Bremner 70, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 71, Dylan Naidoo (AMA) 70, Alvaro Velasco (ESP) 71
Par - Rhys West 72, Darryn Lloyd 71, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71, Calvin Caldeira 71, Allan Versfeld 72, Charl Coetzee 72, Justin Harding 72, Steve Webster (ENG) 72, Seve Benson (ENG) 72, Oliver Farr (WAL) 71, Dylan Frittelli 71, Jean Hugo 72, Danie van Tonder 71, Andy Sullivan (ENG) 71, Louis de Jager 72, James Kamte 72, Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 71, Tom Murray (ENG) 71, Lasse Jensen(DEN) 72, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 71, Daniel Woltman (USA) 72, Bernd Ritthammer (GER) 72, Rhys Enoch (WAL) 72, Jacquin Hess 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 71, Kevin Stone 72, Neil Schietekat 72, Phillip Archer (ENG) 72, Jerome Lando Casanova (FRA) 71, Craig Lee (SCO) 72, Graeme Storm (ENG) 72, Morten Orum Madsen (DEN) 71, Darren Clarke (NIR) 72, Doug McGuigan 72, Moritz Lampert (GER) 71, Andrea Pavan (ITA) 72, Jake Redman 71, Callum Mowat 71, Steve Surry (ENG) 71, Mark Williams (ZIM) 72
+1 - Steven Brown (ENG) 73, Thanda Mavundla 73, Daniel Gaunt (ENG) 73, Steven Ferreira 73, Ross McGowan (ENG) 73, Chris Doak (SCO) 73, James Morrison (ENG) 73, Christiaan Basson 72, Grant Muller 72, Jason Barnes (ENG) 72, Bradley Neil (AMA) (SCO) 72, Kenneth Dube 72, Adrien Saddier (FRA) 72, Antonio Hortal (ESP) 73, Ruan de Smidt 73, Oliver Bekker 73, Erik van Rooyen 73, Jason Palmer (ENG) 73, Borja Virto Astudillo (ESP) 73, Theunis Spangenberg 73
+2 - Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 74, Michael Hollick 74, Cyril Bouniol (FRA) 74, Francois Coetzee 73, Adrian Ford 74, Simon Wakefield (ENG) 74, Lyle Rowe 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG) 73, John Parry (ENG) 73, Makhetha Mazibuko 74
+3 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 75, Heinrich Bruiners 75, Daniel Im (USA) 75, Keenan Davidse 75, Michiel Bothma 74, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 75, Alex Haindl 75
+4 - Divan Gerber 76, John Hahn (USA) 75, Chris Paisley (ENG) 76, Marco Crespi (ITA) 75
+5 - Omar Sandys 76, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 77, Drikus van der Walt 77, Andre Cruse 76, Dayne Moore (ZAM) 76
+6 - Ryan Cairns (ZIM) 78, Jake Roos 77, Bradford Vaughan 77, S S P Chawrasia (IND) 77, Matthew Carvell 77, Estanislao Goya (ARG) 78
+7 - Derik Ferreira 78, Sipho Bujela 78
+9 - Paul Maddy (ENG) 80
+15 - Yubin Jung 87
