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Wild Coast - Vaughn Groenewald made the most of his early start at the Sun Wild Coast Sun Challenge and shot 64 to share the first-round lead on Wednesday, according to the Sunshine Tour website.
“This morning was perfect and on this course it’s very important to be on right side of the draw. Today the Wild Coast wasn’t too wild and luckily we played well out there,” he said.
In 2014 the tournament was reduced to 36 holes after gale-force winds made Wild Coast Sun Country Club unplayable.
On Wednesday it was far calmer than a year ago and Groenewald, who won the Zambia Sugar Open in April, was able to capitalise and went bogey-free on day one.
“It had been such a long time since I won and it was an amazing feeling. I’d like to win again - that’s actually why we play, but at this course you can never go for it. I’ve learnt that some holes can just bite you here, so you play the course without pushing,” he said.
The 40-year-old started on the 10th and soon got the ball rolling when he made three birdies on the trot from the 11th to the 13th. His tail was up from there and he added a further three birdies to reach the clubhouse on six-under-par.
“I got up today and there was no wind, but I still decided to play for fairways and greens. It was a little bit breezy, but I started solid and that got me going.
“I wanted to play the back nine well, and I managed to turn in 31, which was nice. And then made two more birdies on the other nine, so it was a good round,” he said.
By the end of the first 18 he was tied at the top with Andrew Georgiou and Desvonde Botes, who each shot 64s of their own.
Georgiou, who lives in Cape Town, was happy to be competing on a coastal track where the wind often picks up.
“The hardest part is to stay patient. You need mental toughness and to stay positive when it blows. Two-iron is one of my favourite clubs in the bag and I love it on the coast, so let the wind blow!” he said.
SCORES (RSA unless otherwise specified):
64 - Andrew Georgiou (CYP), Desvonde Botes, Vaughn Groenewald
65 - Erik van Rooyen
66 - Jake Redman, Jared Harvey, Jaco Van Zyl, Daniel Greene, Francesco Laporta (ITA), Ulrich van den Berg, Ryan Tipping, Lindani Ndwandwe
67 - Lyle Rowe, Ruan de Smidt, Titch Moore, PH McIntyre, Jaco Ahlers, Jacques Blaauw, Shaun Norris, Theunis Spangenberg, Christiaan Basson, Roberto Lupini, Justin Turner
68 - Jacquin Hess, Rourke van der Spuy, Mark Williams (ZIM), Zander Lombard, Doug McGuigan, Adilson Da Silva (BRA), Hennie du Plessis, Justin Harding, Allister de Kock, Breyten Meyer, Callum Mowat, Grant Veenstra, Heinrich Bruiners
69 - Dwayne Basson, Tyrone Mordt, Wallie Coetsee, Grant Muller, Chris Swanepoel, Alan Michell, Neil Schietekat, Charl Coetzee, Neil Cheetham (ENG), Eddie Taylor
70 - Greg Bentley (ZIM), Louis Calitz, Keith Horne, Warren Abery, Colin Nel, Andrew Curlewis, Pieter Moolman, Dongkwan Kim (KOR), Daniel Hammond, Derick Petersen, Anthony Michael, Peter Karmis, Louis de Jager, Allan Versfeld, Le Roux Ferreira, Michael Hollick, Shaun Smith
71 - Antonio Rosado (POR), Divan van den Heever, Dayne Moore (ZAM), Stuart Smith (BOT), Jean Hugo, Teboho Sefatsa, Joe Nawanga (NAM), Callie Swart, Wayne De Haas, Rhys West, Trevor Mahoney, Tyrone Ryan, Etienne Bond, Ryan Cairns (ZIM), Mark Murless, Andre Cruse, JJ Senekal, Jeff Inglis (ENG), Gert Myburgh, Bryce Easton, Coert Groenewald
72 - Gary Thompson (ZIM), Bennie van der Merwe, JC Ritchie, Bradford Vaughan, Toto Thimba (Jnr), Dean Burmester, Werner van Niekerk, Juan Langeveld, Ockie Strydom, Steven Ferreira, CJ du Plessis, Drikus Bruyns, Bryce Bibby
73 - Maritz Wessels, Thanda Mavundla, Jean-Paul Strydom, Keenan Davidse, Calvin Caldeira, Morne Buys, Drikus van der Walt
74 - Otto van Greunen, Thabang Simon, MJ Viljoen, Altaaf Bux, Lean Boezaart, Shaun Coetzee, Makhetha Mazibuko, Jaco Prinsloo
75 - Burger Heckroodt, Ruan Huysamen (NAM), Tyron Roelofsz, Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN), Tyrone Ferreira
76 - Luke Kelly, Andrew McLardy, Michiel Bothma, Derik Ferreira
77 - Russel Franz, Arthur Horne (SWZ), Divan Gerber, Francois Coetzee
83 - Kevin Rundle
