Sun City - Three players, including 2014 runner-up Ross Fisher, sit at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City.
The Englishman, South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and Felipe Aguilar of Chile carded four-under par 68 on a scorcher of a day amidst an unpredictable breeze.
Seven more players followed on a share for fourth place on three under including local favourites George Coetzee and Jaco van Zyl.
Among those on three under was The Open champion and winner of the 2012 Nedbank Golf Challenge, Henrik Stenson of Sweden.
Fisher was delighted with his performance on the day given tougher playing conditions which he predicted would see some modest scoring throughout the tournament.
“I was working my butt off to birdie the last. I have to say, after bogeying 17, I hit a decent drive there,” Fisher said.
“The more you play this course, the more you understand how to play it.
“There’s times where you can be aggressive and there’s times where you need to be strategic.
“But at the same time, you always know around here, you look at the walk up to the ninth green, you see all the scores, 22-, 24-, 18-, 20-under par, you know you have to shoot really low scores to have a chance around here.”
Stenson finished with a flourish after having a difficult time over the first nine before he shot birdies on the 15th, 16th, 17th holes, and closing on par on the 18th.
The super Swede is on the cusp of winning his second Race to Dubai title, he is currently leading the rankings and could seal it with a victory here at Sun City.
“It would be nice (winning Race to Dubai) but I just want to play as well as I can for these two weeks and see where it takes me,” Stenson said.
“Of course you’re always going to look a little bit and see what the other guys are doing. But at the end of the day I’ve got to focus on my game and I managed to do that. So I am happy with the day’s work.”
Coetzee shared the lead on four under until the 18th hole before dropping a shot for an opening-round 69.
Denouncing the wind, Coetzee said the conditions made life difficult but added that he had to adjust his game in general in the second round.
“It’s a little windy, I think this makes Augusta look like a playground with the way the wind swirls around so it’s quite tough out there,” Coetzee said.
“You have to hit really good tee shots. You’ve got to judge the wind really well. You’ve got to get lucky a little bit like I did.
“It was a little scrambly, a couple of loose shots out there but I felt like I capitalised on the holes that I hit good shots on.”
While Coetzee appeared slightly annoyed with the way he finished his round he hoped for the rub of the green on the second day.
“There’s nothing to make a scene about, I just need to swing it a little better, chip a little better, putt a little better and hopefully score a little better,” he said.
The Star