South African big-hitter, James Hart Du Preez powered himself to an irresistible opening round of nine-under-par 63 of the Steyn City Championship and leads by one shot after day one in Fourways.
He leads the field thanks to some brilliant golf played on a rather soft layout of the Steyn City Championship course after that region had some rain in the preceding days. Starting off on the front nine of the golf course, the man who has carved a reputation for himself as one of the longest golfers off the tee in world golf, began with the business of the day as he went par-birdie-par on the first three holes.
Once he had the feel of things, he went for a birdie-run that lasted for four holes – starting from the fourth and all the way through to the seventh. Suddenly, back-to-back bogeys followed just as Du Preez was building his momentum. He knew he had to pull things together after the turn, especially after a beautiful 33 on the front nine.
The par-five 10th presented an opportunity for Du Preez to make up for the dropped shots on the previous two holes and an eagle there brought the six-foot-nine South African back into it. He followed that up with a birdie on 11, a par on 12, another birdie on 13 and then two pars on the par-three 14th and the 15th.
Then, for the second time on that back nine, Du Preez made an eagle on the long 16th hole and held things together for the remaining two holes by picking up pars there to seal a strong round of golf.
Du Preez’s countrymen Shaun Norris and Jaco Ahlers make up a three-way tie for the second spot along with Italian Nino Bertasio at eight-under-par 64. Norris was already in the clubhouse when Du Preez and Ahlers finished and his opening round was as flawless as you can have them.
Birdies on the second, sixth and ninth holes characterised a blemish-free front nine for the man who has played most of his golf in Japan in recent years. A birdie after the turn was followed by another on 12 and three more on 15, 16 and 17.
Forming part of the afternoon field on Thursday, Ahlers made five birdies on the front, with three of those, coming one after the other on the second through to the fourth while he made the other two on the seventh and ninth.
A veteran of the Sunshine Tour in his own right, Ahlers didn’t relent on the homeward stretch and he signalled that with an eagle and a birdie on 10 and 11 before consolidating for the next five holes to avoid big numbers on the card.
George Coetzee and Ruan de Smidt are in a five-way share of fifth with France’s Romain Langasque, Sweden’s Sebastien Sorderberg and Darius Van Driel of the Netherlands.