Joe Sullivan continued to ride his good form in the first round of the ninth Betway Big Easy Tour event at Krugersdorp Golf Club where his opening 67 left him in a four-way share of the lead on Tuesday.
Fresh from his second Blu Label Invitational triumph of the season at Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate just last week, the Englishman showed no signs of slowing down in Krugersdorp. Along with Vaughn van Deventer, Dillon Germishuys and Jacques van der Merwe, Sullivan carded an impressive five-under 67 to be among the early leaders in this 54-hole event.
The quartet will go into the second round with a single-shot lead over the duo of Kian Coetzer, who seems to be enjoying a good run of form of his own, and Andre van Zyl.
Amateur, Hannes Strooh, also continued to impress on this Sunshine Tour feeder circuit, signing for a round of 69 alongside member of the Papwa Sewgolum Class, Lwazi Gqira, and Keagan Crosbie, who is still finding his feet in the professional ranks.
England’s Matt Millar came into this event with some confidence following his narrow loss to his countryman, Sullivan, last week. He shot an opening round of 70 to tie the 10th position with Travis Ladner, Adam Breen, Therion Nel, Oliver Goldhill and Andre de Decker. They are only three shots off the pace and will be confident of making upward movements on the leaderboard in round two.
Veteran campaigner John Bele shot a 71, which included a hole-in-one on the sixth hole. It was Bele’s fourth career hole-in-one, and it came at a place he is quite familiar with.
This 54-hole event is the ninth of the season and the last one for the year.
The Betway Big Easy Tour is the Sunshine Tour’s feeder circuit and enjoys the support of the legendary Ernie Els, among other patrons.
SCORES
67 - Dillon Germshuys, Joe Sullivan, Jacques Van der Merwe, Vaughn van Deventer
68 - Kian Coetzer, Andre Van Zyl
69 - Lwazi Gqira, Keagan Crosbie, Hannes Strooh
70 - Travis Ladner, Therion Nel, Oliver Goldhill, Adam Breen, Matt Millar, Andre De Decker
71 - John Bele, Ricco Motsa, Philip Geerts, Jaden Deltel, Joshua Koekemoer, Wandre Snyman
72 - Tiago Jorge Swart, Matt Saulez, Brandon Pieters, Travis Procter, Kian Rose, LB Boshoff, Brandon Gildenhuys, Tiger Adams
73 - Rigardt Albertse, Regan Steyn, Miles Gray, Louis Liebenberg, Steven Le Roux, Thabang Simon, Liam Ross
74 - Matthew Dennis, Kyle Kistensamy, Jonathan Ackerman, Romano Saincic, Jake Bolton
75 - Khanya Mkhize, Matthew Rushton, Tristan Leonard
76 - Shaheed Patel, Leon Visser, Austin Cherichella, Shaunak Rama, Shaydon Johnson
77 - Hayden Garcia, Slenda Sithebe, Mark Maart, Jason Froneman, Reece Mc Kain
78 - Alphius Kelapile
79 - Joshua Van der Wath, Allister de Kock, Lyle Pedro, Brandon-Jude Rennie
80 - Christiaan Pretorius
83 - Chandler Shaw
89 - Phumlani Maluka
WDN - Drikus Joubert