Dane leads in Rustenburg

Rustenburg - Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard has fired a seven-under-par 65 to lead the first round of the Investec Cup at the Millvale Private Retreat in Rustenburg on Thursday.

He carded eight birdies and a lone bogey to take a two-stroke lead over Jacques Blaauw, with Joburg Open champion George Coetzee and Jbe’ Kruger a further shot back on four-under-par 68.

Bjerregaard is one of six European Tour players who have made it into the Investec Cup, which is the culmination of a year-long quest for points in all the regular-season Sunshine Tour events in the Chase to the Investec Cup, beginning with the Zimbabwe Open last April and ending at the Tshwane Open.

He started his round on the back nine at Millvale, and was quickly into his stride with consecutive birdies at 11, 12 and 14. One more at 16 came before his only dropped shot of the day.

And he picked up four more birdies on his way in.

"I got away with a couple of poor tee shots today, but I played really well and made a couple of good putts," Bjerregaard said.

"I hit a couple of really good irons today, and a got a couple of good par putts to keep the round going.

"We got perfect conditions today.

"I was out first and the greens were so pure.

"They’re some of the best greens I’ve ever played on.

"So it really set up to make a couple of putts.

"And with no wind, except a little bit of a breeze swirling in the trees towards the end, it was set up for a perfect day."

First round scores of the Investec Cup played at the Millvale Private Retreat in Rustenburg on Thursday:

Scores (RSA unless specified):
65 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN)
67 - Jacques Blaauw
68 - George Coetzee, Jbe’ Kruger
69 - Justin Walters, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Merrick Bremner
70 - Ulrich van den Berg, Keith Horne
71 - Jaco van Zyl, Jean Hugo
72 - Oliver Fisher (ENG)
73 - Darren Fichardt, Hennie Otto
74 - Dawie van der Walt, Justin Harding, Morten Orum Madsen (DEN), Thomas Aiken
75 - Jake Roos, Adilson Da Silva (BRA), Andrew Curlewis
76 - Oliver Bekker, Danie van Tonder, Michael Hollick, Richard Finch (ENG)
77 - Ross Fisher (ENG)
78 - Warren Abery, Jaco Ahlers
80 - Titch Moore, John Hahn (USA)