Ferreira leads Boardwalk as his putter ‘clicks’

Cape Town  - He’s produced a series of good rounds in tournaments recently, but Tyrone Ferreira’s eight-under-par 64 on Wednesday on the first round of the R700,000 Sun Boardwalk Challenge at Humewood was by far his best.

He made an eagle and six birdies on an error-free card to grab a one-stroke edge over Danie van Tonder and last week’s winner on the Sunshine Tour, Justin Harding. Alex Haindl, Titch Moore and Charl Coetzee were a further shot back on six-under 66.

“I’ve been playing really well recently,” said Ferreira. “I’ve just been struggling with my putting, but today the putter clicked and everything just happened.”

Of course, making as many birdies – and an eagle – as he did takes more than good putting. Ferreira also struck the ball well. “I’ve been hitting it well for a while now,” he said.

He also took advantage of Humewood playing as easily as it has been forecast to play all week, with the wind no more than a stiff breeze on occasion, and high winds predicted for the second round. “When we played in the pro-am on Monday and Tuesday, the wind was blowing hard, and they said today was going to blow, but it actually calmed down from last night,” he said. “I needed a good score today, because tomorrow’s supposed to be blowing hard again.”

Harding, who pulled off a win at Simola last week, continued his fine form from that tournament. He made seven birdies and didn’t drop a shot to keep himself right up in contention. “I played solidly,” he said. “We got a bit lucky with the breeze which didn’t really pick up to the extreme we thought it would, but I’m still trying to work out how I didn’t make a birdie on any of the par-fives.”

Van Tonder made just the one mistake, a bogey on the par-three 14^th. But for the rest, he made eight birdies, and is very much looming in Ferreira’s rearview mirrors. “I really had to just keep it simple in the wind,” said Van Tonder. “Just hit it low into the wind and keep it straight, otherwise you can lose a few ball out there.”

Ferreira will be keeping his eye on the weather forecast as he looks back on his previous best round this year: He opened the KCM Zambia Open with a 65 and finished in a share of 17^th. With this start, he’ll be hoping for an improvement of his share of ninth in the Sun Carnival City Challenge.

Scores

64 - Tyrone Ferreira

65 - Danie van Tonder, Justin Harding

66 - Alex Haindl, Titch Moore, Charl Coetzee

67 - Neil Schietekat, Ruan de Smidt, Doug McGuigan, JC Ritchie, Andrew Georgiou, Jake Roos, Jason Froneman, Jason Diab

68 - Madalitso Muthiya, Ockie Strydom, Toby Tree, Dayne Moore, Wallie Coetsee, Le Roux Ferreira

69 - Colin Nel, James Kingston, Zander Lombard, Louis de Jager, Ruan Huysamen, Callum Mowat, Keenan Davidse, Jaco Prinsloo, Ryan Cairns, Jake Redman, Peter Karmis

70 - Shane Granger, Jean-Paul Strydom, Allister de Kock, Drikus Bruyns, Steven Ferreira, Michael Palmer, Lindani Ndwandwe,Jared Harvey, Dwayne Basson, Stefan Engell Andersen, Pieter Kruger, Gert Myburgh

71 - Theunis Spangenberg, Hennie du Plessis, Vaughn Groenewald, Makhetha Mazibuko, Bryandrew Roelofsz, PH McIntyre, James Kamte, Heinrich Bruiners

72 - Nemanja Savic, Andrew Odoh, Jacquin Hess, Jonathan Agren, Christiaan Basson, Allan Versfeld, Matthew Carvell,Stephen Ferreira

73 - N.J. Arnoldi, Ruan Pretorius, Garth Mulroy, Jeff Hopkins, Teboho Sefatsa, Breyten Meyer, Chris Swanepoel, Ryan Tipping, Derick Petersen

74 - Mark Fensham, Rourke van der Spuy, Lyle Rowe, Neal Herman, Tyrone Ryan, Greg Bentley, Jason Viljoen, Andrew Curlewis, Tyrone Mordt, Michael Hollick, Grant Veenstra, Thanda Mavundla, Werner van Niekerk

75 - Mark Murless, Arthur Horne, Teaghan Gauche

76 - Johan van der Wath, Antonio Rosado, Etienne Bond, Calvin Pearson, Bryce Easton, Steve Surry, MJ Viljoen, Russel Franz

77 - Daniel Hammond, Bryce Bibby, CJ du Plessis, JJ Senekal

79 - Joe Nawanga, Roux Jeffery

81 - Mikhail Tewary, Drikus van der Walt