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St Francis Bay - Local Titch Moore took advantage of benign conditions on Thursday to post a six-under-par 66 at St Francis Links and move into a three-way share of the first-round lead of the Vodacom Origins of Golf event.
And with gale-force winds forecast for the second day, the Sunshine Tour got the second round underway immediately, in the hope of dodging the chaos that gusts predicted to reach upwards of 85km per hour.
Moore made seven birdies and a bogey on his way to the top of the leaderboard, a position he shared with Desne van den Bergh and CJ du Plessis. They had a one-stroke edge over Hennie Otto, Colin Nel and Swede Jonathan Agren.
"You've got to take advantage when the weather is as good as it was this morning," said Moore, who plays a lot of golf at the course.
"It's all dependent on wind around here. If it stays like this in the afternoon, we’re going to have to find another low one.
"I kept it in play nicely in the first round, gave myself some chances. Because of my experience here, I know where I can and can't miss. I've been playing nicely for a while, so I'll keep doing what I've been doing."
Defending champion Doug McGuigan carded a solid four-under-par 68, just two shots nehind the leaders.
With him were Peter Karnis, Ulrich van den Berg, Jaco Ahlers, England's Steve Surry, Alex Haindl, Daniel Greene and Neil Schietekat.
Scores:
66 - Desne Van Den Bergh, Titch Moore, CJ du Plessis
67 - Hennie Otto, Colin Nel, Jonathan Agren
68 - Peter Karmis, Ulrich van den Berg, Jaco Ahlers, Steve Surry, Alex Haindl, Neil Schietekat, Doug McGuigan, Daniel Greene
69 - Andrew Curlewis, Andre Nel, Jake Roos, Jean Hugo, Keenan Davidse, Wallie Coetsee, Steven Lecuyer
70 - Justin Turner, Jade Buitendag, Chris Cannon, Herman Loubser, Thriston Lawrence, Jacques Blaauw, Anton Haig, Louis Albertse, Keelan Africa
71 - Charl Coetzee, Breyten Meyer, Jake Redman, Merrick Bremner, Lyle Rowe, Daniel van Tonder, Jason Smith, James Kamte
72 - Vaughn Groenewald, Michael Hollick, Hennie du Plessis, Ruan Conradie, Chris Swanepoel, Theunis Bezuidenhout, Allan Versfeld, Hayden Griffiths
73 - Derick Petersen
74 - Michael Schutz, Teaghan Gauche, Ryan Tipping, Matt Bright, Allister de Kock, David McIntyre, MJ Viljoen, Marc Cayeux, Basil Wright, Damon Stephenson
75 - Roberto Lupini, Marthin Scheepers, Callum Mowat, Jacques P de Villiers
76 - Cameron Moralee, Franklin Manchest, Ruan de Smidt, Altaaf Bux, Combrinck Smit, Duane Keun, Luke Jerling, Wayne Stroebel
77 - Aubrey Beckley, Estiaan Conradie, Pieter Moolman, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Jason Viljoen, Heinrich Bruiners
78 - Jabulane Mabilane, Jacquin Hess, Fezekile Kana
79 - Phumlani Maluka
80 - Erhard Lambrechts, Paul Boshoff
81 - Francois van Vuuren
82 - Jason Rossiter, Andrew Carlsson
