Thriston Lawrence opened his defence of his Joburg Open title on Thursday with a bogey-free five-under-par 66 in the first round of the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned tournament being played at Houghton Golf Club.
Lawrence was amongst the early starters from the 10th tee, and he had to wait until the 18th before he made his first birdie. But he made four on his homeward nine to be three shots behind the early leader, Dan Bradbury of England. Bradbury led by one from Nick Bachem of Germany, with Frenchmen Romain Langasque and Clement Berardo in a share of third on six-under.
Play was interrupted during the afternoon for lightning, and then called off for the day soon after 5pm, and Berardo was through just 11 holes at the suspension.
Lawrence shared fifth with veteran Jaco van Zyl, and rookie Casey Jarvis was a shot further back on four-under. Both had completed their rounds. Dylan Mostert, Louis de Jager, Wilco Nienaber and Jbe’ Kruger were in a share of ninth with Jarvis. Wynand Dingle, JJ Senekal, Jacques Kruyswijk, James Hart du Preez, Ian Snyman and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were all on three-under in a share of 18th. Bezuidenhout still had two holes to complete at the suspension.
First-round play will resume at 6.45am on Friday, and the second round will start at 7.15am.
Scores: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/joburg-open-2023/leaderboard?round=1
