Tyrone Ryan made two eagles and six birdies on Wednesday on his way to a bogey-free 10-under-par 66 at the first-round lead of the Blu Label Unlimited Challenge at both the Gary Player Country Club and Lost City Golf Club courses.
He embraced the modified stableford format and claimed the lead on 22 points after the first round, grabbing five points for each of the eagles and two for each of the birdies. Had he dropped a shot, he would have lost one for a bogey, and three for a double bogey or worse.
Ryan played the challenging Gary Player Country Club in the first round and teed off the 10th hole as he worked his way into a nine-point lead.
But it was the format and how it translated to his strategy on the golf course that most excited Ryan.
“It’s just such an amazing place with so much history behind it. The greats of the game have walked these fairways. The format is nice in the sense that you need to be making birdies and eagles, so you need to be aggressive without shooting yourself in the foot. I’m always having birdie in the back of my mind in some shape or form,” Ryan said.
“The round was good. I had a lovely hole-out for eagle on my ninth hole – funny enough with the same club that I got a hole-in-one with last week,” he said, referring to his ace in last week’s Fortress Invitational where he finished in a share of fourth to give him good momentum coming into this week.
“I also had a chip-in eagle on my 10th hole and carried the momentum through with birdies on my 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes.”
Ryan has given himself another good start as he looks to claim his second Sunshine Tour victory since breaking through in 2017.
“My golf’s been good for a while now, but I just haven’t been able to put it all together. Last week showed that patience, perseverance and good thinking on the golf course can go a long way. My short game and putting got better, and it showed today on the scorecard,” he said.
Hennie du Plessis made an impressive start in his comeback to the tour following a lengthy lay-off due to injury. He joined Keenan Davidse as Ryan’s nearest challengers on 13 points.
