Callum Mowat began with two birdies and just continued on that high as he shot a 67 to lead the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City after the first round on Wednesday, saying afterwards it was a round that “made me feel good about me”.
Mowat’s five-under-par score included just one bogey on the testing Gary Player Country Club layout and he came home in three-under 33.
That gave him a one-stroke lead over Rourke van der Spuy on four-under, while MJ Viljoen and Harry Konig were tied for third after shooting 69s.
“I’ve been inside a deep hole and I needed to figure out how I felt about myself,” Mowat said. “It was nice to feel I belong out here and I am competitive, it was good to feel good about myself and where my game is trending. It made me feel good about me.”
“I just tried to be aggressive, just let fly and stop trying to steer the ball around, let it run! The demanding thing about Gary Player Country Club is off the tee, but I was more aggressive than usual.”
“That meant I could hit a lot more greens with shorter irons. My game-plan was to just get as far as possible off the tee, it worked well and then I just stuck to the plan,” the 30-year-old Mowat said.
The Glendower golfer had not broken 70 yet in four rounds this season at the FBC Zimbabwe Open and the Sishen Classic.
The 27-year-old Viljoen looked like catching Mowat as he raced to four-under through 14 holes, but a weak finish saw him drop a shot at the par-four 18th to finish two back on three-under.
Van der Spuy started his round with eight pars, but he caught fire around the turn with birdies on the ninth and 10th holes, and he picked up further shots on the 13th and 17th holes in a bogey-free round.
Konig, hailing from Devon in England, is in his first season on the Sunshine Tour and he also dropped just one shot, making a four on the par-three 16th, in his 69.
FIRST-ROUND SCORES:
67 - Callum Mowat
68 - Rourke van der Spuy
69 - MJ Viljoen, Harry Konig
70 - Lyle Rowe, Kyle Barker, Jaco Prinsloo, Jacques P de Villiers
71 - Adam Breen, Louis Albertse, Tumelo Molloyi, Siyanda Mwandla, Albert Venter, Merrick Bremner, Hennie Otto, Alex Haindl, Dan Erickson
72 - Byron Coetzee, Gerard du Plooy, Yubin Jung, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Louis de Jager, Stephen Ferreira, Ryan Cairns, Rupert Kaminski, Wynand Dingle, Matias Calderon, Quintin Wilsnach, Brooklin Bailey, Therion Nel, Peter Karmis, Christiaan Basson, CJ du Plessis, Lindani Ndwandwe, Estiaan Conradie, Michael Kok
73 - James Pennington, Ryan Van Velzen, Dwayne Basson, Keagan Thomas, Martin Rohwer, Andre Van Dyk, Hayden Griffiths, Nikhil Rama, Matthew Spacey, Jean Hugo, JJ Senekal, Stuart Smith, Jacquin Hess, Dayne Moore
74 - Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Sean Bradley, Aneurin Gounden, Danie Van Niekerk, Kyle McClatchie, Ockie Strydom, Dylan Naidoo, Wallie Coetsee, Sean Cronje, Jaco Van Zyl
75 - Makhetha Mazibuko, Madalitso Muthiya, Hennie O'Kennedy, Jake Redman, Herman Loubser, Joe Long, Dylan Mostert, Karabo Mokoena, Heinrich Bruiners, Jared Harvey, Andre De Decker, Joshua Seale
76 - Clinton Grobler, Divan van den Heever, Ruan de Smidt, Teaghan Gauche, Dean O'Riley, Keelan van Wyk, James Mack
77 - Erhard Lambrechts, Combrinck Smit, James Kamte, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Adriel Poonan, Clancy Waugh, Steven Le Roux, Riekus Nortje, Mandla Dlamini Jnr, Leon Vorster, Paul Boshoff, Pierre Pellegrin, Jason Smith, Vaughn van Deventer
78 - Bradley Bawden, Franklin Manchest, Martin Vorster
79 - Wade Jacobs, Ruan Korb, Rhys West
80 - Maverick Faber, Toto Thimba Jnr, Kevin Rhoderick, Malcolm Mitchell, Chris Cannon, Gareth Sargent
81 - Richard Joubert, Michael Palmer
82 - Peetie van der Merwe, Gerrit Foster, Chris Swanepoel
84 - Jake Bolton
85 - Clayton Mansfield
89 - Brandon-Jude Rennie