Before Thursday’s first round of the SDC Open at the Zebula Golf Estate and Spa, JJ Senekal watched an episode of the new Netflix golf documentary, “Full Swing”.
In it Major champion Brooks Koepka verbalised exactly what Senekal felt as he went on to open with a 10-under-par 62 and lead this tournament.
“Koepka spoke about how within the first couple of holes of your round you know if it’s on or not. That’s what happened to me over the first five holes today. I knew it was on,” said Senekal as he played his way to seven birdies, two eagles and one bogey for a two-stroke lead over fellow South African Martin Vorster.
Herman Loubser is also well-placed three shots off the lead.
A hot start to the tournament ??
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) February 16, 2023
Slide 2: ??? @JJSenekalGolf shares his Zebula memories and thoughts on his low round.
Slide 3: ?? Scorecard #SDCOpen | #GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour
Senekal’s first five holes certainly gave him confirmation of a good day coming as he teed off the 10th and played them in three under par.
Then came an eagle on the par-five 15th and a birdie on the par-four 16th that was impressive enough to even get a few wildebeest to lift their heads from their grazing.
“It was a hot start. I felt I needed that eagle on 15 if I wanted to get a low round going. Then I eagled my 11th hole (the par-five second) and I knew I was in for a good round.”
A lapse in concentration and the wrong club selection led to a bogey on his 12th hole, but three birdies coming home quickly sorted that out.
Senekal has been waiting for this round amidst a season of remarkable consistency that has been highlighted by a sixth-place finish in November’s Joburg Open and then 14th in the recent Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open and sixth in last week’s Dimension Data Pro-Am.
It came on Thursday on a golf course he’s always loved since he made his amateur debut for South Africa here 16 years ago in a test against England, playing against the same Ashley Chesters who was his professional playing partner on Thursday.
“I’ve been knocking on the door for quite a while. With the results I’ve had in the past four months I knew there was a low round in there somewhere, and here she is.”
Senekal finished seventh in last year’s SDC Open and clearly enjoys this bushveld layout. “I like tree-lined golf courses because of the targeting it gives you. You have to be straight off the tee here and I think I got that right. You have to keep it in play here and it’s soft enough at the moment where you can fire at flags. You just need to stay patient and there are a lot of birdies out there.”
Behind him, Vorster was delighted with his round, especially after a warm-up that wasn’t ideal by his standards.
“This morning on the range I didn’t have the greatest session but we went out with the mindset that I’ve been playing well so I’ll just keep committing to shots, and I’m very happy with the result. I love being in the bushveld and the course suits me,” he said.
There’s some interesting spectators this week at the #SDCOpen ??????#GreatnessBeginsHere | #SunshineTour pic.twitter.com/gsnIdA5yDv
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) February 16, 2023
FIRST-ROUND SCORES:
62
- JJ Senekal64 - Martin Vorster
65 - Victor Garcia Broto, Herman Loubser, Victor Pastor
67 - Alvaro Quiros, Hennie Otto, Danie Van Niekerk, Stuart Manley, Jack Singh Brar, Michael Palmer, Lorenzo Scalise, Alfie Plant, Estiaan Conradie, Yan Wei Liu, Daniel O'Loughlin
68 - Koen Kouwenaar, Ashley Chesters, Jaco Prinsloo, Pierre Pineau, Chris Paisley, Matteo Manassero, Marco Penge, Ugo Coussaud, Clement Berardo, Jamie Rutherford, Tom Murray, Casey Jarvis, Rhys Enoch, Mikael Lundberg, Dylan Naidoo, Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon
69 - Bradley Bawden, Jacques Kruyswijk, Ruan Conradie, Joel Sjoholm, Manuel Elvira, Joe Long, Trevor Fisher Jnr, James Allan, Frederik Birkelund, Adam Blomme, Heinrich Bruiners, Christopher Feldborg Nielsen, Jonathan Thomson, Craig Howie, Toby Tree, Hennie O'Kennedy, Combrinck Smit, Fredrik From, Gerard du Plooy, Thabang Simon
70 - Lucas Vacarisas, Elias Bertheussen, Benjamin Poke, Javier Sainz, Henric Sturehed, Velten Meyer, Oscar Lengden, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Jared Harvey, Luke Jerling, Gregorio De Leo, Christopher Mivis, Borja Virto, Alex Haindl, Sam Bairstow, Oliver Lindell, Keagan Thomas, OJ Farrell, Nicolai Kristensen, Pieter Moolman, Niklas Regner, Jeppe Kristian Andersen
71 - Dean O'Riley, Divan van den Heever, Jacques P de Villiers, Philip Eriksson, Nikhil Rama, Clancy Waugh, Steven Tiley, Lars van Meijel, Oliver Farr, Tristen Strydom, Andrea Pavan, Brandon Stone, Steven Brown, Conor Purcell, James Kamte, Erhard Lambrechts, Luke Brown, Louis Albertse, David Drysdale, Francesco Laporta, Robin Petersson, Tom Vaillant, Ruan Korb, Luca Filippi, Samuel Simpson
72 - Toto Thimba Jnr, Rupert Kaminski, Dylan Mostert, Merrick Bremner, Victor Riu, Sean Bradley, Wade Jacobs, Kyle McClatchie, Gary Boyd, Eduard Rousaud, Benjamin Rusch, Liam Johnston, Felix Mory, James Hart du Preez, Malcolm Mitchell, Anton Karlsson, Richard Joubert
73 - Keenan Davidse, Joachim B. Hansen, Anthony Michael, Ryan Van Velzen, Chris Swanepoel, Matthew Spacey, Sebastian Friedrichsen, Derek Ackerman, Michael Stewart, David Boote, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez, Emilio Cuartero Blanco, Jaco Van Zyl, Doug McGuigan, Madalitso Muthiya, Jannik de Bruyn
74 - Chris Cannon, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Pavan Sagoo, Dan Erickson, Lucas Bjerregaard, CJ du Plessis, Marc Hammer, Wynand Dingle, Shaahid Mahmed, Jacques Blaauw, Kyle Barker, Ruaidhri McGee, Martin Rohwer
75 - Lyle Rowe, Stephen Ferreira, Joel Girrbach
76 - Stefan Wears-Taylor, Jean Hugo, Jastice Mashego, Keelan Africa
77 - Andre De Decker
79 - Franklin Manchest, Kristoffer Reitan
84 - Callan Barrow