Martin Vorster saw more of the fruits of the hard work he has been putting into his game pay off as he opened with a six-under-par 66 to share the lead with JC Ritchie on the opening day of The Serengeti Playoffs at Serengeti Estates on Thursday.
Vorster and Ritchie came through the first day one stroke clear of the field, with Stals Swart, Ockie Strydom and Wilco Nienaber their nearest challengers.
For Vorster in particular, it was a positive start at a critical point of the season, with The Courier Guy Playoffs offering a range of incentives to the leading professionals.
“Coming into the playoffs is really important, especially where I am on the rankings,” Vorster said of his 38th place on The Courier Guy Order of Merit. “Last season was my best on the Sunshine Tour and I finished strong,” he added.
Vorster had a very solid playoffs series last season wherein he finished in the top 15 in the final two playoffs tournaments.
That, combined with a growing self-belief in where his game is headed, combined for a solid start on Thursday.
“I feel like the game has been solid these last couple of weeks coming into the playoffs. Any playoff is important, and it’s just really nice to be up on the leaderboard and see all the hard work pay off and the adjustments to the swing that I’ve made.”
At the beginning of this year, Vorster went back to working with his junior coach – Grant Veenstra.
“We’ve seen a lot of progress and it’s nice to see that under pressure I could pull off the shots I wanted to. There’s no different approach to the playoffs for me. I identified the holes I felt were opportunities. I drove the ball well and that left me opportunities off the fairway. So I’ll stick to that.”
It was a tough opening day, with rain and wind making for a challenging front nine for Vorster.
“Serengeti is a great challenge. With the rain and wind on the front nine, some holes played longer than I’m used to. But the course is in such good condition. I just love being here. I stayed here and was a member here for a bit, and it feels like a home course for me, even though we’re back in George now.”
