James Allan played himself into a two-way share of the lead in the first round of the Investec Royal Swazi Open on Wednesday.
A couple of wayward drives during the opening holes weren’t enough to deter the rookie as the field enjoyed a change up to the regular stroke play.
The Modified Stableford format makes a high score good play, where points are awarded based on the number of strokes taken at each hole, and as a result making it possible for players to play attacking golf.
The Englishman, who earned his rights at Q-School, took advantage of this.
‘I played really nicely, even though I had a bit of a slow start,’ said Allan, who hit a few wayward tee shots early on Wednesday.
‘This format is really interesting for us players because it gives you the opportunity to be aggressive. It encourages aggressive play and makes you look at some holes differently, like the par-fives; you want to try and take advantage of those. If you make an eagle, that can really push you up, so it makes the format really interesting.’
Allan shares the top spot with Martin Rohwer, who also produced a fine round of golf that included eight birdies, an eagle and three bogeys. He, too, feels he didn’t play the first few holes as well as he would have liked, but thanks to this format of play which encourages players to really attack, he bounced back solidly to grab a share of the lead.
‘It was a little bit up and down ball-striking-wise,’ he said.
‘I made a lot of putts, especially from about 10-15 feet, I was really solid. So, I am happy with my start and hopefully there’s more of that to come.’
MJ Viljoen is one point off the pace and in third position, while Daniel Greene, Stephen Ferreira and David McIntyre share fourth with 15 points.
First-round scores:
18 – James Allan, Martin Rohwer
17 – MJ Viljoen
15 – Daniel Greene, Stephen Ferreira, David McIntyre
14 – Steve Surry, Jacques P de Villiers, CJ du Plessis
13 – Thriston Lawrence, Ruan Conradie, Breyten Meyer
12 – Neil Schietekat, Luke Jerling, Michael Palmer, Ryan Cairns
11 – Estiaan Conradie, Merrick Bremner, Anthony Michael, Fredrik From, Keenan Davidse
10 – Tyrone Ryan, Titch Moore, Pieter Moolman, Rhys West, Bradford Vaughan
9 – Christiaan Basson, Ockie Strydom, Andre Nel, James Kingston, Jean Hugo, Jaco Prinsloo, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Jake Redman
8 – Madalitso Muthiya, Jake Roos
7 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Kyle Barker, Rourke van der Spuy, Wallie Coetsee, Toto Thimba, Jonathan Agren, Vaughn Groenewald, Teaghan Gauche, Andrew McLardy, Jacques Blaauw
6 – Sean Bradley, Clinton Grobler, Hennie Otto, Roberto Lupini, JC Ritchie, Callum Mowat
5 – James Pennington, Garrick Higgo, JJ Senekal, PH McIntyre, Derick Petersen
4 – Riekus Nortje, Louis Albertse, Chris Swanepoel
3 – Michael Saunders, Doug McGuigan, Andrew van der Knaap, Duane Keun, Benjamin Follett-Smith
2 – Dylan Naidoo, Chris Cannon
1 – Wynand Dingle, Lyle Rowe, Jaco Ahlers
-1 – Nic Henning
-8 – Adriel Poonan
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
