Sunshine Tour
Sterne shares Joburg lead
2013-02-07 18:21
Johannesburg - South African Richard Sterne and
German Maximilian Kieffer shared the lead on 63 after the first round of
the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club here
on Thursday.
The pair are two strokes ahead of South Africans MJ
Daffue, Bryce Easton and Tyrone Mordt as well as Sweden's Joakim
Lagergren and American Peter Uihlein in an event co-sanctioned by the
European Tour and local Sunshine Tour.
VIDEO: Joburg Open Round 1 highlights
David Horsey of England,
Frenchman Alexandre Kaleka, Espen Kofstad of Norway and Brazilian
Adilson da Silva are among a dozen golfers a further shot back on 66
after an opening round staged in clear, hot South African summer
conditions.
Pre-tournament favourite and 2011 US Masters champion
Charl Schwartzel of South Africa began with a 68, while compatriot and
defending champion Branden Grace would have expected to do better than a
72 after the first 18 holes.
Sterne started his round superbly
with three consecutive birdies, followed by another on eight and an
eagle on nine where a driver and a four-iron brought him to the edge of
the green and his deft chip dropped into the hole.
The hot streak
cooled somewhat on the back nine with Sterne adding two birdies to
maintain a trend of good starts having opened with a 62 at the Dubai
Desert Classic last week, where he came second to Scotland's Stephen
Gallacher.
Tour rookie Kieffer was a model of consistency,
rattling off five birdies on the front nine and a further three on the
inward journey while not dropping a single stroke.
Each competitor
in the 210-strong field chasing a 206,050-euro (S278,744) first prize,
plays one round over the west course and one over the longer, more
challenging east course, where the final two rounds will be staged.
Leading scores after first round of
Joburg Open over par-71, 6618-metre west course and par-72 6942-metre
east course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club Thursday (RSA
unless noted):63 - Richard Sterne, Maximilian Tikieffer (GER)
65 - MJ Daffue, Bryce Easton, Joakim Lagerdren (SWE), Tyrone Mordt, Peter Uihlein (USA)
66
- Tyrone Ferreira, Trevor Fisher, Damien McGrane, David Horsey (ENG),
Alexandre Kaleka (FRA), Espen Kofstad (NOR), James Kingston, Jake
Redman, Adilson da Silva (BRA), Ockie Strydom, Allan Versfeld, Jaco van
Zyl
67 - Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Thomas Aiken, Gary Boyd (ENG), Dean
Burmester, Ryan Cairns (ZIM), George Coetzee, Josh Cunliffe, Niclas
Fasth (SWE), Darren Fichardt, Richard Finch (ENG), Lorenzo Gagli (ITA),
Ignacio Garrido (ESP), Ross McGowan (ENG), Keith Horne, Lee Slattery
(ENG), Alessandro Tadini (ITA), Tjaart van der Walt
68 -
Christiaan Basson, Oliver Bekker, Merrick Bremner, David Drysdale (SCO),
Jamie Elson (ENG), Oliver Fisher (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Lasse
Jensen (DEN), Jbe Kruger, Phillip Price (WAL), Atti Schwartzel, Charl
Schwartzel, Anthony Snobeck (FRA), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Danie van Tonder