By Michael Vlismas
The first-round leaderboard of the CIRCA Cape Town Open resembled the peak holiday queue for the cable car up Table Mountain. Seven players finished tied for the lead on seven-under-par at Royal Cape Golf Club on Thursday.
Louis Albertse is the lone South African in that pack after his opening round of seven-under 65 earned him the joint lead with England’s Tom Lewis, Will Enefer and Sam Hutsby, Ireland’s Gary Hurley, Norway’s Baard Skogen, and Scotland’s Marc Warren.
They are one stroke clear of a pack of nine players that includes Wilco Nienaber, who made only the second albatross of his career at the par-five 16th as he signed for a 66.
It’s an intriguing leaderboard, with Albertse contending for a tournament where he finished third in 2024; Enefer sharing the lead on a golf course where he caddied for his Ladies European Tour girlfriend, Ana Dawson, when she played a Sunshine Ladies Tour event here in 2024; Hurley leading a tournament after believing last September he might never play competitive golf again because of a shoulder condition; and Lewis who stunned the world in 2011 when as an amateur he shared the first-round lead in The Open.
“To start the week like this is pleasing,” said Albertse. “My expectations were low going into the round and I just wanted a solid start. I got the front nine going, made a bogey on 10 which was disappointing, but then played really nicely coming in,” he said of his five birdies in six holes on the back nine.
Hurley was equally delighted with his opening round, given that he’s come to South Africa for this co-sanctioned Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour stretch of tournaments to test a shoulder condition he thought might end his career.
“About three weeks ago I actually wasn’t going to come out here,” he said. “About a year ago I woke up one day and couldn’t lift up my arm and didn’t know what it was. I went to see a specialist and she said I had Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, which in my case affected a spinal nerve that controls everything with how you move your shoulder.
“It took so long to recover and last September I was starting to look at doing other things outside of golf. Then I started working with my coach to find a way to load my shoulder differently in the swing. It doesn’t seem to cause me pain anymore. I’m delighted.”
And Lewis was thrilled to have gone bogey-free on day one.
“It was a nice round,” he said. “Bogey-free always shows you’re hitting it well. I miss being out on the main tour. Last year I didn’t want to play and this year I do want to play, so I’m really looking forward to the next few days.”
