The South African pair of Wilco Nienaber and JC Ritchie joined five players in a share of the lead after a low-scoring opening day on Thursday of the Challenge Tour’s Hainan Open at Sanya Luhuitou Golf Club.
Nienaber and Ritchie were joined by the Swede Niklas Lemke, Singapore’s Gregory Foo and Lloyd Jefferson Go from the Philippines after they each signed for identical eight under par rounds of 64.
Nienaber, who moved into a share of the lead after carding eight birdies without a bogey, was pleased with his first round as he targets a first promotion to the DP World Tour.
“It’s always nice to start the tournament without making a bogey,” he said. “I played really well today and I only missed a few shots. The next three weeks are obviously very important to me. I do not want to think about it too much but I will just take it day by day and hopefully have more rounds like this.”
Ritchie’s round was also bogey-free as he needs a good showing this week and next week to get closer to the top 20 on the Road to Mallorca rankings ahead of the Challenge Tour Grand Final, after which the top 20 will get promoted to the DP World Tour.
Bryce Easton and Justin Walters opened with two-under-par 70 each, and both are in need of substantially better showings if they are to make it to Mallorca. Deon Germishuys also had a two-under 70 for a share of 44th, and he looks set to be one of the 20.
Louis Albertse had a level-par 72 and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith was on one-under 71.
