Gert Myburgh made the first albatross of his career in the opening round of the Final Stage Qualifying School for the Sunshine Tour on Monday, as Randpark Golf Club allowed for some low scoring – no fewer than four players scored 67 to place themselves top of the leaderboard.
NJ Arnoldi, Teboho Sefatsa, Myburgh and amateur Aubrey Beckley all shot five-under-par 67 to station themselves at the top of the leaderboard. ‘I’m very happy about that round. I don’t know if you know, but I made an albatross today; that’s my first albatross so I was quite happy with that,’ he said. ‘Usually I struggle on fast greens like these, but I putted solidly today. I had one three-putt.’
Reflecting on how he made that albatross, Myburgh said: ‘I didn’t hit the best of tee shots; I just sclaffed it a bit to the right,’ he said, ‘I then hit a soft three-wood to the left with a small fade, and it just went straight to the pin. My playing partner, Ruan (Huysamen) told me it was in and at first I didn’t believe him.’
He said he’d only believe it when he saw it in the hole.
Also perched at the summit of the leaderboard was Beckley, whose seven birdies in a round in which he made two bogeys showed that he has everything it takes to mix it up with the professional players. He said he worked very hard in preparation of this tournament and that work seems to be paying off. ‘I was quite happy coming into this tournament with my short game. I was hardly focusing on any short game. The long game was a bit of a struggle over the last few months, so I worked really hard on the long game and it was working nicely today. I’m happy,’ he said.
Thriston Lawrence led a nine-man tie on four-under-par 68. The group included American Matthew Jennings, German Michael Pfeifer and member of the Gary Player Class of 2017 Jacquin Hess.
Nine more players finished the round with three-under-par scores, including Sean Brady, Cody Martin of the United States, and local Trevor Mahoney.
Image courtesy: Petri Oeschger/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images)
