Sean Bradley rode the benefits a new caddie has brought him for the second week in a row as he carded a six-under-par 66 on Thursday to take a share of the first-round lead at San Lameer Country Club in the Sunshine Tour’s Vodacom Origins of Golf event there.
Bradley dropped just one shot in his round, and joined a packed summit of the leaderboard that was shared with Wynand Dingle, Ockie Strydom, Herman Loubser, Matthew Spacey, Doug McGuigan and Merrick Bremner.
“Francois Olivier has caddied for quite a few good players,” said Bradley, “and he just brings a lot of experience to the party. I played well last week at Selborne, and I feel in pretty good shape this week too. I am able to just listen to what he says, and do it, and that takes a lot of pressure off.”
Of the seven players at the top of the pile, Bradley was one of four who made only one bogey, and he knows how important that can be through the week. “I also find the course suits me well,” he added. “You really just have to dink the ball off the tees and get in position round here, so there are not too many big risks you have to take.
“And today, with the wind up, I found things quite to my liking, because I come from Cape Town – wind is not a problem for me. Even with the wind up, I managed to hit 13 of 14 fairways, so I was pretty accurate out there today.”
Loubser had a superb start to his round from the 10th tee: After two pars on his first two holes, he went birdie-eagle-birdie-bride to reach five-under through six holes. He picked up another shot ahead of the turn on the 18th, and then things quietened down for him with a bogey and a birdie on his homeward nine.
Strydom had the chance to finish the day as the sole leader on seven-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three ninth hole, his last. Spacey, the 31-year-old from Dainfern, started birdie-birdie but then finished twice as well with four successive birdies from the 15th hole to shoot up the leaderboard.
Bremner made par on the 498-metre par-five first, but then the rollercoaster ride began with two birdies being followed by a bogey at the par-three fourth, another pair of birdies before a second dropped shot on the par-four seventh, and then a birdie-four and a birdie-two to go out in just 32 strokes. His back nine was far more sedate as he was bogey-free and picked up back-to-back birdies on the par-four 12th and par-five 13th holes.
The veteran McGuigan is looking for his ninth Sunshine Tour title, and Dingle, who came so close in the last Vodacom Origins of Golf event at Highland Gate last month, for his first.
The top seven lead by one from Stefan Wears-Taylor, Danie van Niekerk and Albert Venter.
