Zander Lombard and Justin Harding are the highest-placed South Africans after the opening round of the Celtic Classic in Wales.
In what proved to be a slow start for many players at Celtic Manor, Lombard and Harding finished on two under par and in T31, which leaves them five shots behind leader Thomas Pieters.
Lombard rolled in five birdies during his round, but conceded an ugly double-bogey on the par-four 4th hole, while he dropped another shot on the 15th.
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Harding, on the other hand, managed four birdies while dropping a shot on both the front and back nine of his round.
Justin Walters, Wilco Nienaber, Jbe Kruger, Bryce Easton and Jacques Kruyswijk are, however, just a stroke behind them on one under par after opening rounds of 70 on Thursday.
After last week’s good performance at the English Championship, Compleat Golfer‘s playing editor, Brandon Stone, and Dean Burmester struggled to get their respective rounds going and in the end both had to settle for an even-par 71, alongside Louis de Jager.
Haydn Porteous also find the going rather tough and came home with a disappointing two-over-par 73, while JC Ritchie suffered even further with an opening-round 75.
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