Jake Roos carded an opening round six-under-par 66 on Wednesday to take the first round lead of the Sun City Challenge, a shot ahead of Haydn Porteous and Mark Williams at the Gary Player Country Club.
He started with three back-to-back pars from the 10th, which was his first hole, and made three birdies which were accompanied by a pair of pars and a bogey on his front nine. He made par on the turn before slotting in an eagle on the par-five second hole, his 11th.
‘I hit it just a little bit left of the fairway,’ he said about that eagle.
‘I hit a lovely five-iron in to about 15-20 foot and I made the putt. It was lovely.’ That was followed by five consecutive pars and two birdies to seal the lead.
‘I really enjoyed today’s round,’ said Roos.
‘I haven’t been playing well the last couple of tournaments, but today was a good day so I am really chuffed.’
He credits his ball-striking for his score in Sun City and says that eagle has caused him to love the second hole.
‘My ball-striking was very tidy,’ he said. ‘And I made one or two putts as well. So yeah, sometimes it’s funny because when you start get going a little bit, you can start getting a bit of momentum.’
Lurking dangerously behind Roos is the duo of Zimbabwe’s Williams and the 2016 Joburg Open champion, Porteous, on five-under-par 67. The latter shot 29 on the back nine. He made birdies on 10 and 11 before making an unwanted bogey on 12. From there the 23-year old went on to make five back-to-back birdies, which were followed by a par on 18. But his front nine was somewhat quiet by his standards, and he made seven pars and two bogeys on that stretch to score 38.
Sharing fourth on four-under are Jaco Prinsloo, Jared Harvey, veteran Brazilian Adilson Da Silva, Tyrone Ferreira and Jean Hugo, who shot a flawless opening round in Rustenberg.
Breyten Meyer, members of the Gary Player Class of 2017-18 Jacquin Hess and Omar Sandys, Stephen Ferreira, rookie Andrew van der Knaap and Neil Schietekat, are all tied at ninth on three-under-par 69.
First round leaderboard:
66 – Jake Roos
67 – Haydn Porteous, Mark Williams
68 – Jaco Prinsloo, Jared Harvey, Adilson Da Silva, Jean Hugo, Tyrone Ferreira
69 – Breyten Meyer, Jacquin Hess, Omar Sandys, Stephen Ferreira, Neil Schietekat
70 – Danie Van Niekerk, Christiaan Basson, Gert Myburgh, Riekus Nortje, Andrew van der Knaap, Mark Murless
71 – Michael Palmer, Justin Harding, Jbe’ Kruger, Coert Groenewald, Peter Karmis, Makhetha Mazibuko, Jason Viljoen, Hennie du Plessis, Jacques Kruyswijk, Jean-Paul Strydom, Keith Horne
72 – Madalitso Muthiya, Keenan Davidse, Ryan Tipping, Bradford Vaughan, MJ Viljoen, Oliver Bekker, Aubrey Beckley
73 – Jaco Mouton, Louis de Jager, Anthony Michael, Merrick Bremner, James Kamte, Tyrone Ryan, Jake Redman, Ruan de Smidt, Alex Haindl, Titch Moore, Zander Lombard
74 – Heinrich Bruiners, Ulrich van den Berg, Colin Nel, Scott Campbell, Combrinck Smit, Dwayne Basson, Matthew Spacey, Desne Van Den Bergh, Toto Thimba, Desvonde Botes
75 – Jason Froneman, Daniel van Tonder, Allister de Kock, Rourke van der Spuy, Andrew Curlewis, Lyle Rowe, Vaughn Groenewald, Wallie Coetsee, Chris Swanepoel, Hennie Otto, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, PH McIntyre, Dongkwan Kim, Francois Coetzee
76 – Matias Calderon, Rhys West, Ockie Strydom, Dayne Moore, Irvin Mazibuko, Andre Nel, Luke Jerling, Allan Versfeld, Wynand Dingle, Sipho Bujela, Antonio Costa
77 – Steven Ferreira, Damon Stephenson, Kyle Pilgrim, Zack Byrd, JJ Senekal, Theunis Spangenberg, Antonio Rosado, JC Ritchie, Doug McGuigan, Herman Loubser, Jason Diab
78 – Cody Martin, Charl Coetzee
79 – Gerard du Plooy, Callum Mowat, Dean Burmester, Teaghan Gauche, Ryan Cairns, Stefan Engell Andersen
80 – Matthew Carvell, Michael Hollick
81 – Marc Cayeux
82 – Altaaf Bux, N.J. Arnoldi, Sean Bradley
