It was a thrilling start to this year’s final stage of qualifying school held at Randpark Golf Club as amateur Erhard Lambrechts’ scorching hot putter helped him to an untainted 66 which gave him the lead on Monday.
He seemed to be at ease with the Firethorn layout where the final stage is being played at Randpark, opening his round with back-to-back pars from the 1st hole to the 3rd. He broke that trend with a birdie on the 4th before making three more pars one after the other. Suddenly, something clicked in the 21-year-old Stellenbosch Golf Club golfer, and he made birdie on both the 8th and 9th holes.
‘My start was perfect for this week because I didn’t make any drops,’ Lambrechts said after his round. ‘My putter worked very well today and I didn’t miss any greens and if I did, I then chipped it close. Very easy up-and-downs so I’m very happy with the start.’
He should be happy because while his is only an early lead, he showed great maturity not to lose the gains made on the front nine, on the back nine of this championship course. Pars on the 11th and 12th preceded three straight birdies before making four pars where he made a few up-and-downs to keep the score at 66.
‘This course is tough but I played a few practice rounds before so I was familiar with a lot of it,’ he said. ‘But, like I said, my putting was good today. It’s the best I’ve putted in a long time and it all came together at the right times today.’
A shot behind Lambrechts, trailed England’s amateur, Todd Clements with his hard-fought five-under 67. And, contrary to Lambrechts who was pleased with his putter, Clements said it was his iron play that kept his round alive on Monday. He made one birdie more than Lambrechts but the bogeys on the 10th, his first hole, and the 13th holes would prove detrimental to his rise up the leaderboard.
‘I’m truly delighted,’ he said.
‘It’s a joy to be out there with the best players around. Great climate for me, especially with the snow at home. But today I was really pleased with my iron play. I hit a lot of good shots and I hit a lot of shots that my caddie, John, the local lad, asked me to hit and I can’t ask much more of myself today.’
While he would have been kicking himself for the bogey he made on his first hole, Clements will be happy with his effort, especially on his front nine where he made five birdies, even as he remains a shot behind the leader.
Sharing the third spot on four-under 68 is England’s Ben Robinson, who showed good form two weeks ago in the first stage of qualifying at State Mines Country Club in Brakpan, and Wayne Stroebel.
The 2016 Big Easy Tour Championship winner Jason Viljoen is in a four-way tie of the fifth spot after an opening round of 69 while Dongkwan Kim’s 70 placed him in a tie of 9th with eight others.
First round leaderboard:
66 – Erhard Lambrechts
67 – Todd Clements
68 – Wayne Stroebel, Ben Robinson
69 – Jason Viljoen, Philip Eriksson, Louis Albertse, Ruhan van Dijk
70 – Victor Lange, Albert Venter, Jason Smith, Damon Stephenson, Jeff Inglis, Ruan Korb, Luke Trocado, Dongkwan Kim, Michael Schutz
71 – Thriston Lawrence, Anton Haig, Conway Kunneke, Gideon van der Vyver, Jade Buitendag, Marco de Beer, Arthur Horne, Teboho Sefatsa, Matt Bright, Steven Lecuyer, Andrew Burmester
72 – Shalan Govender, Sean Bradley, John Mc Clean, Ty Capps, Andrew Morris, Carlo Heunis, Duane Keun, PH McIntyre, Tristen Strydom, Caylum Boon, Ben Amor, Theunis Bezuidenhout, Roberto Lupini, Bruce McDonald, James du Preez, Clinton Grobler, Tertius van den Berg
73 – Philip Geerts, Jason Rossiter, Rick Palonis, Tomasz Anderson, Dylan Mostert, Tyler Hogarty, Heinrich Bruiners, PJ van der Merwe, Matthew Rushton, Antonio Costa, Matthew Spacey, Irvin Mazibuko, David Mofokeng, Stuart Smith, Jason Diab, Estiaan Conradie, Ruan Conradie
74 – Christian Larsson, Morne Buys, Martin Rominger, Sipho Bujela, Jimmy Mullen, Dylan Kok, Kyle Barker, Ruan Huysamen
75 – Teddy Mathebula, Iron-Byron Sampson, Hayden Griffiths, Paul Boshoff, Marthin Scheepers, CJ Levey, Arno Pretorius, Letsoso Letsai, Coert Groenewald, Pieter Moolman, Keaton Slatter, Dwayne Basson, Basil Wright, Seb Crookall-Nixon, Richard Joubert
76 – Justin Turner, Gerard du Plooy, Makhetha Mazibuko, Jens Hillermann
77 – Dayne Moore, Bryce McCabe, Jason Roets, David McIntyre, Eric Nel
78 – Michael-James Steyn, Luke Brown, Jonathan Waschefort, Juran Dreyer, Keagan Thomas, Thabiso Ngcobo
79 – Brett Liddle, Maritz Wessels
80 – Greg Bentley
81 – Jastice Mashego, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Mohodi Motloung, Warric Dyers
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
