By Sunshine Tour
With one day of the NTT Data Men’s Pro-Am having been lost to the weather, Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith was clearly determined to make up for lost time as he raced around Fancourt’s Outeniqua layout in 60 to take the lead in this Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour event.
Follett-Smith did not drop a single shot during an incredible round of 12-under, which also included a second nine of 29. He leads by three strokes over South Africa’s JJ Senekal, who made his 63 on the Outeniqua course. South African Gerhard Pepler and Ireland’s Max Kennedy are currently third following their rounds of seven-under 65, having also played Outeniqua. Ernie Els signed for an opening 69 on the Outeniqua.
“It’s my lowest on the Sunshine Tour for sure, and it’s tied my best score,” Follett-Smith said.
“Usually things go your way when you’re that low. I left a few putts short starting the round and figured out the greens are slower than what we’re used to here from all the rain. I got the hang of just pitching at the flag and taking advantage of how well I’m playing tee to green. I could be very aggressive from the fairway.”
It all came so easy for Follett-Smith that he even miscalculated his own score coming down the stretch of what was a very real shot at a 59.
“I honestly thought I was 11-under with the last hole to play. Unfortunately we added up wrong. So the 59 didn’t work out, but it’s okay because the whole day worked out in the end.”
The top three scores came from the Outeniqua, which traditionally is the more forgiving of Fancourt’s courses during this event.
“You want to take as much as you can from Outeniqua. Wilco (Nienaber) did that last year when he won so I took a page out of his book and luckily it worked out for me.”
It was an impressive start from a golfer who had all elements of his game ready to take advantage on Thursday.
“Tee to green is really good at the moment. My driver is really good and I’m getting exactly what I want out of it. Fade, draw or straight – it’s all on call at the moment, which is nice. And that becomes confidence on the greens. The five footers became inside rights and inside lefts, which worked out.”
