Englander Jamie Elson carded an up-and- down 71 to lead the MENA Tour challenge as South African golfers wasted no time in taking charge of the proceedings on day one of the South to East Challenge, co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Big Easy Tour, at Ebotse Links in Benoni on Wednesday.
The Englishman, who finished in a tie for second at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic in April earlier this year, mixed four birdies with three bogeys to finish in a tie for 15th, four shots off the pace set by the South African duo of Breyten Meyer and Herman Loubser, who shot matching 67s.
Starting from the 10th tee, Meyerb picked up three shots in his last four holes while Loubser, the Sunshine Tour Q-School winner, lit up his round with four birdies and an eagle against a lone bogey to move atop the leaderboard, one clear of fellow South Africans Jonathan Waschefort and Tyrone Ryan.
Jamie Elson heads the MENA Tour field but it is the local Springbok golfers leading the way.
On a day when South African occupied the top-10 places, England’s Scott Campbell, the winner of the season-ending MENA Tour Championship in 2015, had his chances to make inroads into the leaderboard when he raced to four under through 13 holes, but dropped seven shots coming home, eventually finishing tied for 56th at three-over 75.
Elsewhere, Craig Hinton, the winner of the MENA Tour Order of Merit title in 2016, returned a level-par 72 to join his fellow Englishman Chris Cannon for share of 23rd as Luke Joy settled for a 74.
The day, however, belonged to Loubser and Meyer, who navigated the challenging 7,602-yard course with the maturity of seasoned golfers.
“I played well the whole day, really. On the front nine I let a few putts slip away, but holed some good putts coming home, which was nice,” said Loubser.
It was only Loubser’s second look at the beautiful links layout after a quick nine holes on Tuesday. However, the 19-year- old said he enjoyed the experience when the wind came up.
“It was tricky. It reminded me a lot of the links golf back in England and the Isle of Man. When I saw the wind come up a bit I was kind of excited and I played nicely,” explained Loubser.
After a disappointing missed cut in Zambia last week, Meyer carded seven birdies around the tight layout and he said his performance was due to some self-reflection.
“I sat down after my rounds in Zambia and I was kind of disappointed because I knew I was playing well. I knew I had three Big Easy events coming up and I just had to be patient. It was a matter of time and it paid off today which was nice,” said Meyer.
Play was called to a premature finish due to bad light, and, there will be an early start on Thursday in order for the remainder of the field to finish up round one.
