Jason Froneman went bogey-free on his homeward nine on Tuesday to sign for a seven-under-par 65 in the first round of the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour’s Race to Q-School #8 at Riviera on Vaal.
He made three birdies and a bogey on the front nine, and his 65 gave him a one-stroke lead over Gerhard Pepler and Keanu Pestana. Leon Vorster, Henning du Plooy and Jonathan Waschefort shared fourth place on four-under, three shots off the lead.
Froneman got an early birdie on the second, but he dropped that shot on the fifth. He got things going with consecutive birdies around the turn on eight, nine and 10. He followed that with an eagle-two on the par-four 11th, and picked up two more birdies on the 13th and 16th.
Pepler had seven birdies and a bogey on his card, and Pestana was more adventurous with two eagles, five birdies and three bogeys.
There were five players on three-under in a share of seventh, including Joe Heraty of England and Maverick Faber of France.
