Slade Pickering produced a sublime round of 10-under-par 62 on Monday to open up a three-stroke lead in the first round of the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour’s Road to the Sunshine Tour #16 at Pecanwood Estate Golf and Country Club.
It was a bogey-free performance from the man who has only recently turned professional, as he opened with a birdie on the first to get the show on the road. He made three in a row from the fourth to turn in four-under 32, and then three in a row again immediately after the turn from the 10th. He picked up three more shots with birdies on 14, 17 and 18.
His performance put him well clear of Kyle McClatchie and Swaziland’s James Pennington, who were in turn three clear with their 65s of Llewellyn Booysen, Gerhad Pepler and Yubin Jung who each carded five-under 67s.
It is a measure of just how good Pickering’s round was that he was unable to make birdie on the par-five seventh, on which there were two eagles and 25 birdies during the first round.
Pickering has won twice this year on the Road to the Sunshine Tour series. The first win came in May when he won at Pecanwood with rounds of 68-66-67, and his second was at Centurion in August with 67-68-67. He also has a fifth-place finish at Pecanwood in September to his name.
