The field of 240 players at this year’s South African Open Championship will need to calculate performances across two courses at the Randpark Golf Club, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
That’s what makes the national championship unique as players need to navigate two courses instead of just one and the first round already proved how the differences will effect Sunday’s starting order.
Golfers were out on the field as early as 06:30 on Thursday morning at both the Firethorn and Bushwillow courses but the leaderboard after the opening round suggests that the players might find it easier to play at the latter.
Of course it is too early to say that the first round’s results will set the precedent for the next three days but it is rather interesting to notice only two players who played at Firethorn on Thursday sit tonight inside the top ten.
Only Branden Grace and Australia’s David Micheluzzi were able to make that specific cut with respective rounds of 64 and 65.
From all the players who played at Firethorn during the first round only 53 managed to shoot under par for the round, while a total of 83 players managed to break par on the Bushwillow course; quite a significant difference in golfing terms.
Grace, though, refuses to approach the one course as easier than the other and believes it is still down to the players to make the most of the situation.
‘I don’t like saying the one course is easier than the other. You still have to go out there and you still have to hit the shots to give yourself the chances. I have to take the golf course as it comes,’ said Grace, following the conclusion of his round on Thursday afternoon.
The Bushwillow course does offer an excellent chance of scoring big on the par 4 ninth hole, which is only around 310m long as some pro’s wanted the hole to be reduced to a par 3.
2016 champion Brandon Stone used his driver of the deck and almost rolled the ball past the hole as he had the opportunity of putting for eagle. Also in Stone’s group, Daniel van Tonder just came up short with his drive but managed to put his chip shot close for what was in the end two rather easy birdies for the pair.
But, defending Champion Louis Oosthuizen proved last year that Firethorn can also be a low scoring course when he broke away from the rest of the field during the third and fourth round to claim a six stroke victory.
Ironically enough, the first round leader from this year, Johannes Veerman shot a nine under par 62 on the Bushwillow course, which is exactly the round Oosthuizen played in the first round of last year’s competition, which ultimately set him on his way to the trophy.
It will definitely be worth having a look at the high-flyers from round one on Friday to see how they progress on the Firethorn course.
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
