Keith Horne was the top-performing South African after round one at the Volvo China Open but he remains five off the pace set by local hope Daxing Jin, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Jin’s bogey-free opening 64 was good enough to see him edge in front of England’s Matt Wallace and Italy’s Nino Bertasio at Topwin Golf and Country Club.
Jin’s tally was five better than Horne, the best of the six Saffas in action.
Horne made a bogey on each side of the course but closed with two birdies in his final four holes to move into the bunch on -3 which includes last week’s winner in Morocco, Alex Levy, and impressive Englishman Jordan Smith.
Behind Horne on -1 is Dean Burmester and Shaun Norris. The duo both settled for 71s when a better score was looking likely on Thursday. Burmester, starting on the 10th, was electric early on with four birdies in his opening six holes before a trio of pars, including one at the par-five 18th, which saw him make the turn in 32.
With just one birdie – a three at the 5th – on his inward to sandwich two bogeys on either side of that, the big-hitting South African dropped down the leaderboard as he signed for a 71. Norris undid his good work – which included an eagle three at the 8th, with drops at the 16th and 17th to join Burmester in a share of 48th.
Erik van Rooyen and Brandon Stone finished level after 18 holes and have some work to do on Friday if they are to be around on the weekend. Van Rooyen, who ran Levy close last week, made only two birdies in his opening round, which included drops at the 4th and 17th holes.
Stone’s round was more adventurous as he moved from +2 through five to -1 at the turn thanks to three gains on the bounce from the 7th. The 2016 Olympic representative surrendered those gains with drops at the 11th and 12th before getting back to level after a birdie at the par-four 14th.
Unlikely to make the weekend is Haydn Porteous who had a disastrous opening round, which included four bogeys on the front nine and a quadruple drop eight at the 11th.
Porteous made the second of his day’s birdies at the 15th but gave that back and one more with two drops in a row after that, but a birdie on the last helped him limp into the clubhouse one shot shy of 80 strokes.
Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
