Sun City - It has been a quiet few months since he won the Zimbabwe Open, but Jake Roos was back firing a six-under-par 66 on Wednesday to lead the first round of the R600 000 Sun City Classic.
Six birdies and an eagle saw him lead Ryan Tipping, Attie Schwartzel and Adilson Da Silva by a single stroke.
He also made two bogeys, so it could have been even better.
"It was a little bit of an up-and-down round," he said.
"I even had a six on a par-five. But I played really well, and hit the ball really nicely. So I’m happy with my start."
Roos has happy memories of the Lost City Golf Club winning the 2009 Affinity Cup for his second title.
"I really like the course," he said.
"It sets up well for my game with a couple of left-to-right shots. I always feel comfortable out here."
Tipping was not always comfortable while trying to get used to the changes he made his swing.
"I’ve been working with Neil Cheetham, actually," he said of his fellow Sunshine Tour professional.
"I’ve just got to trust the swing now. It’s coming along well now, and even my playing partners remarked that it looked good today.”
Like Roos, he made two bogeys, but an eagle and five birdies made up for them.
Schwartzel was riding the wave of confidence he gained from his maiden professional victory last week on the Sunshine Big Easy Tour.
"I played flawless golf," Schwartzel said.
Like Tipping, he started on 10, and he eagled the 11th to get off to a fast start.
"I took a lot of confidence from last week, and I’m still hitting the ball as well as I did last week. And with that confidence, you start believing you can win on the Sunshine Tour as well."
Da Silva made two bogeys but regular birdies kept him in the hunt.
"I battle with some of the tee shots here," Da Silva said.
"Some of the second shots into the par-fours are a bit long for me. But I had a local caddie helping me read the putts, and I putted well enough to keep myself in there."
First roun scores from the R600 000 Sun City Classic played at the Lost City Golf Club on Wednesday:
Scores (RSA unless specified):
66 - Jake Roos
67 - Ryan Tipping, Attie Schwartzel, Adilson Da Silva (BRA)
68 - Jared Harvey, Lyle Rowe, Jacques Blaauw, Oliver Bekker, Vaughn Groenewald
69 - Michael Hollick, Alex Haindl
70 - Torben Baumann (GER), Neil Cheetham (ENG), Daniel Greene, Jeff Inglis (ENG), PH McIntyre, Matthew Carvell, Merrick Bremner
71 - Juan Langeveld, Jake Redman, Tyrone Mordt, Sipho Bujela, Grant Veenstra, Ulrich van den Berg, Ruan de Smidt, Jean Hugo, Dean Burmester, Shaun Norris, Ryan Cairns (ZIM), Danie van Tonder, Colin Nel
72 - Derik Ferreira, Dion Fourie, Grant Muller, Hendrik Buhrmann, Bradford Vaughan, Anthony Michael, Ockie Strydom, Louis Calitz, JG Claassen, Allan Versfeld, Neil Schietekat
73 - Graham van der Merwe, Steven Ferreira, Andrew Curlewis, Wallie Coetsee, Lindani Ndwandwe, Mark Murless, Divan Gerber, Tsietsi Mofokeng (LES), Michael du Toit, Tyrone Ferreira, Bryce Easton, Justin Harding
74 - Desne van den Bergh, Bradley Sinnett, Mark Williams, Charl Coetzee, Theunis Spangenberg, Christiaan Basson, Chris Swanepoel
75 - Stuart Smith (BOT), JJ Senekal, Keenan Davidse, Toto Thimba (Jnr), Gert Myburgh, Coenie Bester, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Michiel Bothma, Teboho Sefatsa, Divan van den Heever
76 - Morne Buys, Chris Erasmus, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Micky Hough (ZIM), James Kamte
77 - Duane Keun, Des Terblanche, Titch Moore
78 - Ross Wellington, Prinavin Nelson
79 - John Bele
81 - Dayne Moore (ZAM), Riekus Nortje