Ernie Els was the only South African to finish the first round of the BMW International under par on Thursday, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
The Big Easy turned back the clock to trail co-leaders Sebastien Gros (France) and Jorge Campillo (Spain) by three heading into Friday after an opening 71.
It wasn’t the perfect performance from the smooth-swinging South African with three birdies undoing two bogeys on the front nine. Back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th saw Els move over par before a birdie on the par-five 15th and a birdie to close helped the veteran end the day as the best-placed South African.
Richard Sterne was next best on level par through as he came home with a bogey on his 10th and eight straight pars.
Beyond that, there were eight South Africans over par after a tough day for scoring at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof, a course that demands accuracy from tee to green.
Haydn Porteous was left to rue his finishing holes as he dropped seven shots combined on the 9th and 18th holes to finish alongside Louis de Jager, who suffered a bogey on his penultimate hole, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who had two doubles on his front side before roaring home with four bogeys in his final seven holes.
At +4 through 18 were Thomas Aiken and Justin Walters, who had the unfortunate similarity of playing their inward nines in +3.
Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
