Highest world-ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout picked-up from where he left off last Sunday posting a five-under-par 67 to place him in a six-way tie for the first-round lead at the 110th hosting of the South African Open at Sun City.
The winner of last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship grabbed six birdies and dropped just one during very windy condtions of the Gary Player Country Club course at Sun Cith.
The World No. 41 was then joined by his fellow South Africans Dean Burmester, Jacques Kruyswijk and Ruan Korb as well as Austria’s Matthias Schwab and Italian Aron Zemmer in the lead.
Top world-ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout among six players sharing he lead after day one 2020 SA Open Championship at Gary Player Country Club. (Photo – Carl Fourie/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images)
“I got off to a nice start and turned five under par, then I birdied my 10th hole to get to six under,” said Bezuidenhout, who teed off the 10th. But with the nines swapped for this tournament, he faced the more difficult nine as his second nine, and which was compounded by a strong wind which seemed to also put a chill on his putter.
“The putter just went cold. I just couldn’t make the putts coming in. The wind also picked up which made it more tricky. But it’s nice to have a good start and hopefully I can keep the momentum going and put myself in a good position come Sunday.”
Schwab played with Bezuidenhout and said he fed off the South African’s fast start on the first nine.
“I just tried to keep up with him. Then it got a little bit windy and I just kept the score together coming in. Overall it was good and it’s nice to be bogey-free,” he said after a round of three birdies and an eagle.
The leaders are one stroke clear of Frenchman Matthieu Pavon and South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli. Frittelli also said the wind stopped the momentum he had built up to get to seven under through 10 holes before three bogeys coming in.
“It was a tale of two nines. I played really well on the first nine and everything was just flawless, and then I played poorly on the back. The wind got up which made it tricky.
“But it was a decent start. As long as I’m within two or three shots going into the final round I feel like I have a good shot.”
