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Blemish-free Van Tonder in slim Cape Town Open lead

Cape Town - Daniel van Tonder carded a bogey-free six-under-par 66 in the opening round of this year’s edition of the Cape Town Open co-sanctioned with the European Challenge Tour and hosted at Royal Cape and King David Mowbray Golf Club.

Van Tonder had to wait four holes before making his first birdie of the day on the King David Mowbray golf course and would not make any more birdies on that front nine as he turned in 35. He turned things up on the homeward stretch, making back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th before a par on the 12th threatened to slow him down.

He shrugged that off expertly, bouncing back with a birdie on 13 before making a game-changing eagle in the next hole. He kept things steady from there on, making pars in the last four holes to sign for a blemish-free 66.

“The wind was blowing hard hey,” he said, describing the conditions most of the morning field had to contend with on day one. “It was gusting and stuff. Sometimes on 110 yards, I was hitting a 6 iron. Hitting it low and hard and trying to keep it nicely in play. It was tough.

“It is very difficult to commit to a club when the wind is like that. Most of the time here the wind is in off the right and sometimes you have to aim 40 metres right of the green and trust the wind to bring it back. But it was fun.

“Overall, I’m happy with my score. It felt easier, I don’t know why, maybe because I was listening to my wife who’s on the bag. It felt easy.”

Lurking closely just a shot off Van Tonder’s pace is England’s Toby Tree whose familiarity with the courses and grasses in South Africa must be attributed to the couple of years he spent here as a Sunshine Tour member. He carded a five-under 67 opening round on the King David Mowbray Golf Club track.

His round was characterised by an eagle, four birdies and a single dropped shot in windy conditions in Pinelands. Lying two strokes behind Van Tonder and in a share of third in JC Ritchie and France’s Damien Perrier who both signed for 68s.

Italy’s Aron Zemmer and the English pair of Mitch Waite and Harry Ellis share the fifth spot on three-under-par while Belgium’s Christopher Mivis, Martin Simonsen and Nicolai Kristensen of Denmark and Jean Hugo are among the 11 players who share eighth on two-under-par after the first round in Cape Town.

Scores:

66 - Daniel van Tonder
67 - Toby Tree
68 - Damien Perrier, JC Ritchie
69 - Aron Zemmer, Mitch Waite, Harry Ellis
70 - Christopher Mivis, Martin Simonsen, Marcel Schneider, Adilson Da Silva, Nicolai Kristensen, Marcel Siem, Jean Hugo, Bernd Ritthammer, Lorenzo Scalise, Max Schmitt, Deyen Lawson
71 - Santiago Tarrio Ben, Jean-Paul Strydom, Enrico Di Nitto, Neil Schietekat, Stuart Manley, Brandon Stone, Pedro Oriol, Wilco Nienaber, Raphael de Sousa, Mathieu Fenasse, Tristen Strydom, Dylan Naidoo, Jonas Kolbing, Jason Diab
72 - Erhard Lambrechts, Tyrone Ryan, Federico Maccario, Felix Mory, Jacques Kruyswijk, Rhys Enoch, Jayden Schaper, Anton Karlsson, Lyle Rowe, Jonathan Thomson, Allen John, Jake Roos, Daniel Young, Henric Sturehed, Jacques P de Villiers, Daniel Greene
73 - MJ Viljoen, Louis Albertse, Daniel Gavins, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, Zander Lombard, Thriston Lawrence, Philip Eriksson, Stephen Ferreira, Alexander Knappe, Riekus Nortje, Steve Surry, Andre De Decker, Fredrik From, Jack Harrison, James Kamte, Ewen Ferguson, Robin Petersson, Benjamin Rusch, Jacques Blaauw, Jordan Wrisdale, Jaco Ahlers, Gary Stal, Daan Huizing, Jens Fahrbring, Minkyu Kim, Chris Cannon, Eirik Tage Johansen, Trevor Fisher Jnr, James Hart du Preez, Keenan Davidse, Ruan de Smidt, Hinrich Arkenau
74 - Andre Nel, Keelan Africa, Ulrich van den Berg, Andrew van der Knaap, Franklin Manchest, Pelle Edberg, David Borda, CJ du Plessis, Kristoffer Reitan, Emilio Cuartero Blanco, Oliver Bekker, Clement Sordet, Thomas Linard, Heinrich Bruiners, Rupert Kaminski, Scott Fernandez, Craig Howie, Jacob Glennemo, Deon Germishuys, Matthew Baldwin, Alex Haindl, Merrick Bremner, Gavin Moynihan, Peter Karmis, Laurie Canter, Dominic Foos, Garrick Higgo, Gerrit Foster, Luke Jerling, Derick Petersen
75 - Paul Boshoff, Alfie Plant, Nathan Kimsey, Jbe' Kruger, Toto Thimba, Hennie Otto, Nicolai Hojgaard, Madalitso Muthiya, David Boote, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Christiaan Basson, Oliver Gillberg, Makhetha Mazibuko, Anton Haig, Pep Angles, Garth Mulroy, Chase Hanna, Roope Kakko, Euan Walker, Breyten Meyer
76 - Niklas Norgaard Moller, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Philip Geerts, Joel Stalter, Mark Williams, Hennie du Plessis, Ross Mcgowan, Ricardo Gouveia, Ockie Strydom, Titch Moore, Gudmundur Kristjansson, Stanislav Matus, Tom Gandy, Niall Kearney, Todd Clements, Ben Stow, Jens Dantorp, Daniel Brooks, Victor Lange, Jacquin Hess
77 - Matt Ford, Benjamin Follett-Smith, David Dixon, Doug McGuigan, Allister de Kock, Martin Wiegele, Keith Horne, Robbie Van West, Jaco Van Zyl, Moritz Lampert, Ben Evans, Oliver Lindell, Juran Dreyer, Robin Dawson, James Allan, Ryan Cairns
78 - Rourke van der Spuy, Marc Cayeux, Frederic Lacroix, Liam Johnston, Christopher Sahlstrom, Clancy Waugh, Bradley Neil, Martin Rohwer, Justin Walters, Richard Mansell, JJ Senekal
79 - Mikael Lundberg, Lauri Ruuska, Anthony Michael, Yubin Jung, Oscar Lengden, Jack Floydd, Matias Calderon, Michael Hoey, Bryce Easton, Hurly Long, Estiaan Conradie, Jaco Prinsloo
80 - David McIntyre, Jake Redman, Callum Mowat
81 - Clinton Grobler, Christofer Blomstrand, Michael Palmer, Chris Swanepoel, Kyle Barker
82 - Martin Ovesen, Pieter Moolman, Ruan Conradie, Ugo Coussaud
83 - Vaughn Groenewald
RTD - Timon Baltl, Haraldur Magnus

- Sunshine Tour

 

 

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