Jake Redman finished with an eagle and two birdies for a 64 that earned him a one-shot lead after the first round of the Sunshine Tour’s Mediclinic Invitational at Centurion Country Club on Wednesday.
Redman’s opening round of eight under par put him one clear of the group of George Coetzee, Dylan Naidoo, Luke Brown, Trevor Fisher Jnr. and Keagan Thomas.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone quite low and I’m very happy with the way things went,” said Redman, who certainly enjoyed the Centurion Country Club course.
“It’s a nice estate golf course. There are one or two demanding tee shots, but you can’t be too unhappy with the golf course shooting eight under par. I didn’t hit myself into any trouble and kept the ball in play.”
Teeing off the 10th, Redman admits the 64 caught even him by surprise as he came through 15 holes on four under par.
Clubhouse leader @JakeRedman2 went straight to the driving range after carding an opening round 64 ??#mediclinicinvitational #SunshineTour #GreatnessBeginsHere pic.twitter.com/N1RDRdZksf
— Sunshine Tour (@Sunshine_Tour) March 8, 2023
“It felt like it came a bit out of nowhere. I didn’t make many putts over the first 15 holes, which was frustrating. But I was also hitting it quite close. Then I came to the last three holes and made a huge putt on the par-five seventh hole for eagle, a long putt for birdie on eight and then on in two for a birdie at the last. All round the game was solid and I’m happy with the way things went today.
“It’s been frustrating not to shoot a really low round because I’ve put myself in a good position to do so before. So it was nice to get it done today. When I was four under through 15 I felt like I could’ve been eight or nine under then already. So it was nice to get that reward at the end of it.”
With three rounds still to go, Redman is not getting ahead of himself. But it is a timely point in the season to hit good form, with two big DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournaments to come this month in the SDC Championship and the Jonsson Workwear Open.
“We’ve got some good opportunities to come over the next few weeks, but I’m taking it one step at a time.”
Scores:
64 - Jake Redman
65 - George Coetzee, Dylan Naidoo, Luke Brown, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Keagan Thomas
66 - Merrick Bremner, Pieter Moolman, Kyle Barker, Louis Albertse, Robin Williams, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Ryan Van Velzen, Jacques Blaauw, Jared Harvey, James Mack
67 - Coert Groenewald, Christiaan Burke, Wynand Dingle, Albert Venter, Ockie Strydom, CJ du Plessis, Sean Cronje, Ruan Korb, Rhys West, Gerrit Foster
68 - Christiaan Basson, Martin Rohwer, Yurav Premlall, Slenda Sithebe, Martin Vorster, Andre De Decker, Ulrich van den Berg, Rupert Kaminski, Jacquin Hess, Musiwalo Nethunzwi
69 - Keegan Mclachlan, Leon Vorster, Fredrik From, James Kamte, Luca Filippi, Jaco Van Zyl, Kyle McClatchie, Jacques P de Villiers, Therion Nel, Erhard Lambrechts, Aneurin Gounden, Pierre Pellegrin, Reinhardt Blaauw, Bradley Bawden, Combrinck Smit, Jake Roos, Samuel Simpson, Wade Jacobs
70 - Hayden Griffiths, Gerard du Plooy, Anton Karlsson, Keelan Africa, Gerhard Pepler, Lindani Ndwandwe, Malcolm Mitchell, Richard Joubert, Siyanda Mwandla, Tristin Galant, Luke Jerling, Haydn Porteous, Michael Hollick, Callum Mowat, Clayton Mansfield, Steven Le Roux, Franklin Manchest, Allister de Kock, Dean O'Riley
71 - Dion Fourie, Irvin Mazibuko, Chris Swanepoel, Philip Eriksson, Evance Vukeya, Heinrich Bruiners, Lyle Rowe, Jean Hugo, Hennie Otto, Thanda Mavundla, Nicholaus Frade, Andre Van Dyk, DK Kim, Mark Maart, Sentanio Minnie, Anthony Michael, Hennie O'Kennedy, Steve Surry, Ruan Conradie, Keelan van Wyk, Jovan Rebula
72 - Harry Konig, Riekus Nortje, Michael Palmer, Jean-Paul Strydom, Chris Cannon, John Bele, Karabo Mokoena, Shalan Govender, Toto Thimba Jnr, Thabang Simon, Alex Haindl, Dayne Moore, Paul Boshoff
73 - Omar Sandys, Clinton Grobler, Doug McGuigan, Sean Bradley, Matias Calderon, Matthew Spacey, Thabiso Ngcobo, Dan Erickson, Danie Van Niekerk, Makhetha Mazibuko, Madalitso Muthiya, Henning du Plooy, Shaahid Mahmed, Mandla Dlamini Jnr, Maverick Faber, James Pennington
74 - Adam Breen, Ricky Hendler, Peter Karmis, Mike Maile, Ruan de Smidt, Clancy Waugh, Tumelo Molloyi, Vaughn van Deventer, Peetie van der Merwe, Jason Smith
75 - Stephen Ferreira, Joshua Seale, Adriel Poonan, Wallie Coetsee, Michael Kok
76 - Herman Loubser, Lincon Denzy Cele, Nikhil Rama, SP Mthethwa
77 - Quintin Wilsnach, Jastice Mashego, Ricco Motsa
78 - Alphius Kelapile, Dwayne Basson
79 - Sipho Bujela
81 - Brandon Moodley
82 - Mohammad Rauf Mandhu
83 - Boeta Nasie, Byron van der Merwe, Brandon-Jude Rennie
84 - Lwazi Gqira, Gerard Moodley
85 - Sandy Makume