England’s Harry Konig will take a slim one-shot lead into the second round of the second tournament of the 2025 Betway Big Easy Tour season held at Glenvista Country Club, thanks to an opening 65 on Tuesday.

The Englishman was on the worse side of the first round’s draw as he was among the last groups to go out in the afternoon field, at which time the wind was as brutal as can be imagined. He opened his round with an unwanted bogey on the 10th but swiftly recovered with an excellent birdie on the next hole.

A run of three consecutive pars followed by a birdie on 15 before an eagle on the par-five 17th and a birdie on 18 – Konig’s ninth – made their way onto his scorecard. Konig parred his 10th before making another birdie on the second hole of the golf course, his 11th of the round. His joy was short-lived, however, as he dropped another shot, this time on the third.

Koning made further gains when he birdied the par-three fourth and backed it up with another eagle – his second of the day – on the fifth before going on a run of four straight pars to seal an impressive round of seven-under 65 for a one-stroke lead.

“I’m very happy with that round,” Konig confessed. “To be honest, when I was last off today, the wind was pumping. I bogeyed my first hole of the day. I hit a very good shot there, but it just got killed. But I’m chuffed to have played well in these tough conditions.

“I played the par-fives well, two eagles, which was nice, and I made a couple of twos as well. There are four par-fives, and I can reach them all easily, and I took advantage of them today. I was six-under for them, so that’s where the majority of my good round came from today, basically.”

Trailing by a mere shot is the duo of Tristan Leonard and last week’s winner in the Big Easy Blue Label Invitational at Ruimsig, Lyke Pedro, who went around this track without dropping a single shot en route to his 66. Ulrich van den Berg, winner of the season-opener which was held at Dainfern Golf Estate, along with Wandre Snyman, Thomas Spreadborough and Bloemfontein Golf Club’s Therion Nel, signed for a 67 for a share of fifth.

Local man Louis Liebenberg relied on his knowledge of this track as he and Haydn Porteous shared eighth with a score of four-under-par 68.