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Lusaka - James Kamte leads the 2016 Zambia Sugar Open after carding an opening round seven-under-par 66 at Lusaka Golf Club on Thursday.
According to the Sunshine Tour website, Kamte was the only player to go bogey-free on the Lusaka layout and he was overjoyed with his flawless round.
He said, “I’ve been battling to start my rounds. I always start pretty badly and then I finish off well. But today I got stuck into my game plan - I tried to hit more shots closer to the hole - rather than playing more conservatively. “
With four of the five par-fives on the back-nine at Lusaka Golf Club, players know that if they are to post a low number, they need to take advantage of the more favourable scoring nine.
Kamte said, “On the second-nine you can score better because of the four par-fives, where you can make a lot of birdies and eagles. So to shoot two-under the front nine and five-under the back nine, I was quite happy.”
Kamte only has one Sunshine Tour starts to his name this year and he expressed his joy of holding a one shot lead over his playing competitors.
“It’s such a good feeling because you never know when it comes. The more you stay patient, the more it’ll come up. It was one of those rounds where you just need to dig deep and try and hit the shots you want to hit.”
Teaghan Gauche and Ulrich van den Berg share second position after carding opening rounds of six-under-par 67.
Gauche made the most of the early conditions making three birdies on his outward nine and four birdies coming home, with a single bogey coming at the 17th.
He said, “I think it’s a solid start. I was happy to be off in the morning - nice and early - get the round done. It was very solid. I made my first drop on 17 which a bit of a soft drop as well. I had a lot of chances, I even feel as though I left a few out there, I’ll have to go get them tomorrow, but yeah I’m pleased with my round.”
Like Gauche, Van den Berg carded three birdies on the front nine and four on the back nine, however his dropped shot came at the par-four third hole.
He said, “Yeah I’m really happy. Good ball striking today. I really controlled my ball off the tee, you know you’ve got to shape your ball here.”
Local golfer and crowd favourite Madalitso Muthiya opened his account with a solid three-under-par 70.
He said, “I played quite well. I felt like I did a lot of good things. I was obviously disappointed to finish with two bogeys in the last three holes, but I’m three-under and I’m looking to the days ahead.”
Scores:
66 - James Kamte (RSA)
67 - Teaghan Gauche (RSA), Ulrich van den Berg (RSA)
68 - Allan Versfeld (RSA), Jack Harrison (ENG), Morne Buys (RSA)
69 - Andrew Georgiou (CYP), Colin Nel (RSA), Neil Schietekat (RSA), Calvin Pearson (RSA), Jean Hugo (RSA), Jason Froneman (RSA)
70 - Louis de Jager (RSA), Ruan de Smidt (RSA), Madalitso Muthiya (ZAM), Grant Veenstra (RSA), Dayne Moore (ZAM), Jaco Ahlers (RSA), CJ du Plessis (RSA), Doug McGuigan (SCO), Jaco Prinsloo (RSA), Ryan Tipping (RSA)
71 - Russel Franz (RSA), Dwayne Basson (RSA), Erik van Rooyen (RSA), Stuart Smith (BOT), Nemanja Savic (SRB), Tyrone Ferreira (RSA), Kevin Rundle (RSA), Jean-Paul Strydom (RSA), Scott Vincent (ZIM), Michael Hollick (RSA), Oliver Bekker (RSA), Chris Swanepoel (RSA), Jonathan Agren (SWE), Steve Surry (ENG)
72 - Patrick Mwendapole (ZAM), Hennie du Plessis (RSA), Ryan Cairns (ZIM), Martin Rominger (SUI), Jared Harvey (RSA), Jake Redman (RSA), Wallie Coetsee (RSA), Irvin Mazibuko (RSA), Akil Yousuf (ENG), Lindani Ndwandwe (RSA), Vaughn Groenewald (RSA), Drikus van der Walt (RSA)
73 - Stefan Engell Andersen (KEN), Armandt Scholtz (RSA), Keenan Davidse (RSA), Alexander Knappe (GER), Breyten Meyer (RSA), Merrick Bremner (RSA), Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA), Jeff Hopkins (IRL), Andre de Decker (RSA), Christofer Blomstrand (SWE), Danie van Tonder (RSA), Etienne Bond (RSA), Teboho Sefatsa (RSA), Henry Featherstone (ENG), Zander Lombard (RSA), PH McIntyre (RSA), Stephen Ferreira (POR), MJ Viljoen (RSA)
74 - Lean Boezaart (RSA), Andrew Odoh (NGA), Titch Moore (RSA), Bryce Easton (RSA), Andrew Curlewis (RSA), David Wakhu (KEN), Justin Harding (RSA), Lyle Rowe (RSA), Tyrone Mordt (RSA), Bradford Vaughan (RSA), Aaron Simfukwe Jnr (ZAM) (AMA)
75 - Arthur Horne (SWZ), Bryce Bibby (RSA), Steven Ferreira (RSA), TC Charamba (ZIM), Jaiveer Virk (IND), Thanda Mavundla (RSA), Christiaan Basson (RSA), Le Roux Ferreira (RSA), Sydney Wemba (ZAM) (AMA), Ruan Pretorius (RSA)
76 - Mark Williams (ZIM), Heinrich Bruiners (RSA), Dezzie Ngandu (ZAM) (AMA), JJ Senekal (RSA), JC Ritchie (RSA), Toto Thimba (Jnr)
77 - Nyasha Muyambo (ZIM), Cosmas Mufaya (ZAM), Derick Petersen (RSA), Mohammed Zulu (ZAM), Daniel Hammond (RSA), Matthew Carvell (RSA), Robson Saurombe (ZIM), Stephan de Beer (RSA), Paul de Beer (RSA), Denmark Mulambo (ZAM) (AMA), Ooko Obura (KEN), Neal Herman (RSA), Shankar Natarajan (ZAM) (AMA)
78 - Kangwine Chiluba (ZAM), Michael Baylis (ZIM), Kelvin Phiri (ZAM), Rourke van der Spuy (RSA), Bryn Flanagan (RSA), Jason Viljoen (RSA), Ludovic Bax (MUS), Trainos Muradzikwa (ZIM), Zachary Portemont (USA), Werner van Niekerk (RSA), Omar Sandys (RSA)
79 - Francois Coetzee (RSA), Beza Daka (ZAM), Divan van den Heever (RSA), Roy Da Costa (POR)
80 - Wynand Dingle (RSA), Kayyam Rauf Mandhu (ZIM), Peter Munyinya (ZAM) (AMA), MohammadáRaufáMandhuá(ZIM)
81 - Boyd Kapalamoto (ZAM) (AMA), Greg Bentley (ZIM), Thabang Simon (RSA), Charl Coetzee (RSA), Shane Granger (BOT)
82 - Jason Diab (RSA), Bruce Chanda (ZAM)
83 - Brian Gondo (ZIM)
84 - Kelvin Chibuye (ZAM) (AMA), Gabriel Chibale (ZAM) (AMA)
86 - Moses Chewe (ZAM) (AMA)
DSQ - Charlie Butts (ZAM) (AMA)
