Bryce Easton carded a four-under-par 68 on Thursday to be the leading South African after the first round of the Challenge Tour’s Irish Challenge at the K Club in Palmer South, Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland.
Easton had a clean slater on his opening nine after teeing off on the 10th, with four birdies setting him off on a good round. His closing nine, on the front, was a little more difficult, with two birdies and two bogeys leaving him in a share of 14th place after 18 holes.
He and 11 other players, including Rhys Enoch of Wales and Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith, were five strokes off the lead of Swede Joakim Lagergren, who continued his fine recent form with a nine-under-par 69. Lagergren was a shot clear of two players in second, and two of another in third on seven-under-par. There were three players on six-under and a further six on five-under.
Wilco Nienaber, Dylan Naidoo and JJ Senekal were in a share of 26th on three-under, while Robin Williams, Louis Albertse and Deon Germishuys opened with one-under-par 71s for a share of 59th.
Justin Walters and JC Ritchie each had one-over 73 to be down in a share of 109th.
