Krugersdorp Golf Club’s Simon Du Plooy carded a sparkling eight-under-par 64 on day one of the Betway Big Easy Tour’s fifth event held at his home course, and leads by two.
Starting his round from the 10th tee box and when the wind began to swirl a bit around this very familiar layout to him, Du Plooy navigated his way with the precision of a seasoned veteran.
He started off with back-to-back pars and then birdied the par-five 12th, which was his third. That was followed by another string of pars – five to be exact, Then, he birdied the 18th to turn in 33 and blemish-free.
“I’m always feeling comfortable around here because it’s my home track,” said Du Plooy. “It was a bit iffy on the front nine, you know. But I just birdied all the par-fives and made a putt here and there, and suddenly, it just turns you around.
“There’s a lot of different ways to play this course but I’m a bit more on the aggressive side. I know the lines here. Off the tee-box is where you can have a little bit of an advantage over the field. There are many ways to play it, though. I’m just a little more aggressive.”
He proved his words when he birdied the 4th, 6th and 9th holes (plus all four par-fives here) to seal an untainted round for an early lead.
“At the beginning of the round I just told myself to try and not make any bogeys,” he added. “You just try to keep it in the short grass, hit the greens and make a putt. But on the front nine, the putter was cold. I gave myself good chance but I just couldn’t make them. But knowing the course has its little advantages and I’ve played a lot of rounds here.”
Coming in with a strong start of his own was Erinvale Golf Club member, Matthew Rushton. A birdie-birdie-eagle start set to him off to an eventful six-under-par 66 to take the second spot on the leaderboard. A bogey on his fourth – the 14th hole here – took from his gains but Rushton was quick to respond; birdieing 16 to turn in 31.
He was quick off the mark on the homeward stretch too, making crucial birdies on the par-five 1 and 2 and then would go on to give a shot back on the 6th. Once again, Rushton responded with a birdie before closing with pars on 8 and 9.
“Yeah, that was fun,” said Rushton. “I got off to a great start; birdie-birdie-eagle, you can ask for much better. I must say, I played really well, mostly. I had a couple of loose ones but, overall, I am very happy with how I played.
“There’s a combination of factors for one to play well here. I think doing your homework, particularly in the practice round, before coming here helps. Start to understand how balls bounce, what kind of lines you need to be taking and figuring out maybe distance brackets to try and certain sections of the course. I think I did well in most of these today, especially reading the wind.”
Lying solo third is Sentanio Minnie who shot a 68. Xander Basson, Kyle Lucas, Travis Ladner, Tyrone Davidowitz and Leon Vorster share the fourth spot at three under.
Photo: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour
