Jacques Blaauw beat the weather and the fading light to post an impressive nine-under-par 63 for the clubhouse lead on a difficult opening day of the NTT DATA Pro-Am at Fancourt on Thursday.
Heavy rain forced a lengthy suspension of the first round of this Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour co-sanctioned tournament and resulted in two restarts as the three golf courses of The Links, Montagu and Outeniqua recovered from the downpour.
When an overcast first day drew to a close, Blaauw had just made it into the clubhouse with his bogey-free round on the Outeniqua.
He leads by two shots over Denmark’s Christoffer Bring, who signed for a 65.
Sensational opening round from Blaauw 🤯#NTTDATAProAm | @Sunshine_Tour pic.twitter.com/Bn5rCBUVmk
— HotelPlanner Tour (@HPlanner_Tour) February 13, 2025
England’s Eddie Pepperell and South Africa’s JC Ritchie are also on seven under but still busy with their first rounds.
The first round will have to be completed on Friday morning, with the second round tee times adjusted accordingly.
Blaauw was delighted with his performance in the testing conditions.
“It was a tough morning with the weather, and frustrating. But I’m happy that we could eventually get out there and I was able to make a good score,” said the South African, who added that he had to reset mentally for the challenge ahead.
“It’s difficult because you’re hungry but don’t want to eat because your prep is normally different. It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but in the end it worked out. I could take advantage of the soft greens and make a few birdies. I was pretty good overall through my game.”
As his nearest challenger, Bring was also all smiles on a grey day.
“I had to warm up three times but it was a great day for me. We had to come in after a couple of holes, but when we went back out there wasn’t much wind and the greens were soft which meant I could make lot of birdies. I just tried to stick to my routine and reset mentally. I hit lots of greens and felt in control of my game,” he said.
SCORES (Incomplete round)
-9 - Jacques Blaauw
-7 - Christoffer Bring, Eddie Pepperell [15], JC Ritchie [12]
-6 - Luke Jerling, Malcolm Mitchell, Max Kennedy, Luke Brown, Gregorio De Leo [15], Wilco Nienaber [9]
-5 - Dan Erickson, Hayden Hopewell, Sebastien Gros, Jacques P de Villiers, Ryan Lumsden, Herman Loubser [15], Sebastian Friedrichsen [12], Martin Vorster [12], Jovan Rebula [12]
-4 - Hennie O'Kennedy, Filippo Celli, Bradley Bawden, Deon Germishuys, Sam Jones, Santiago Tarrio, Kyle Barker [12], Daniel van Tonder [12], Nicolai Kristensen [9], Pedro Figueiredo [9], Stefano Mazzoli [9], Jonathan Broomhead [9]
-3 - Travis Ladner, Tyran Snyders, Matthew Spacey, Brandon Meads, Rupert Kaminski, Daniel Young, Daan Huizing, Callan Barrow, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Lyle Pedro, Anthony Michael, Combrinck Smit [15], Rhys Enoch [12], Tomas Gouveia [12], Matthis Besard [12], Christofer Rahm [12], Jean Hugo [12], George Coetzee [12], Frank Kennedy [12], Gerhard Pepler [9], Oliver Wilson [9]
-2 - Haydn Barron, Lars van Meijel, Dylan Naidoo, Pieter Moolman, Chris Paisley, Jens Fahrbring, Rourke van der Spuy, John Axelsen, Per Langfors [15], Jamie Donaldson [15], Bryce Easton [12], Louis Albertse [12], Freddy Schott [12], Felix Mory [12], Lucas Vacarisas [12], Sebastian Garcia [9]
-1 - Jaco Van Zyl, Jonathan Caldwell, Neil Schietekat, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Ethan Smith, Ricky Hendler, George Bloor, Jacques Kruyswijk [15], Sam Locke [15], Benjamin Follett-Smith [15], Martin Rohwer [12], Ben Stow [12], Hennie Otto [12], Oihan Guillamoundeguy [12], Dylan Mostert [12], Jean-Paul Strydom [12], Lyle Rowe [12], Albert Boneta [9], Lee Slattery [9], Dermot Mcelroy [9], Justin Walters [9], MJ Viljoen [9], Lukas Nemecz [9], Maximilian Steinlechner [9], Borja Virto [9], Adri Arnaus [9], Renato Paratore [9]
Par - Jordan Duminy, Danie Van Niekerk, Casey Jarvis, Arron Edwards-Hill, Euan Walker, Taylor Funk, Robson Chinhoi, Michael Hollick, Matt Oshrine, Wynand Dingle, Cedric Gugler [15], Jeremy Freiburghaus [12], Jamie Rutherford [12], Quim Vidal [12], Oliver Bekker [12], Yurav Premlall [12], Joseph Winslow [9], Nikhil Rama [9], Shaun Norris [9]
+1 - Robin Petersson, Kyle De Beer, Joshua Grenville-Wood, Gregor Graham, Palmer Jackson, Maxence Giboudot, Alan McLean, JJ Senekal, CJ du Plessis [15], Christiaan Burke [15], Umar Davids [15], Franklin Manchest [12], Heinrich Bruiners [12], Will Enefer [12], Joachim B. Hansen [12], Doug McGuigan [9], Ilirian Zalli [9]
+2 - Soren Broholt Lind, Victor Pastor, Albert Venter, Clément Charmasson, Keenan Davidse, Aron Zemmer, Tadeas Tetak, Christofer Blomstrand [12], Peter Karmis [12], Marc Warren [12], Jaco Ahlers [12], Sentanio Minnie [9]
+3 - Keelan van Wyk, David Law, Makhetha Mazibuko, James Morrison, Jason Roets, Keegan Mclachlan, Ruan Korb [15], Werner Deyzel [12]
+4 - Trevor Mahoney, Zander Lombard [15], Sam Hutsby [12]
+7 - Adam Breen
+8 - Trevor Fisher Jnr [15]