On a sweltering Thursday at Leopard Creek, England’s Andy Sullivan turned up the heat himself with a sublime round of eight-under-par 64 to earn himself a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
With temperatures in the 40 degrees Celsius, Sullivan took advantage of a 7am tee-off time off the 10th and didn’t drop a single shot as he set the pace in this Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament.
“It’s so important to get off to a good start at Leopard Creek because you just know it’s going to get tougher and tougher. It generally doesn’t get easier here. So getting off to a good start is nice. It gives you that little bit of a buffer because you know you’re in for a serious grind over the next couple of days,” said Sullivan, who always feels at home on these fairways and draws heavily on his memories of winning his first two DP World Tour titles in South Africa in 2015.
“I always feel comfortable here and generally play good golf. My putting was really good today and saved me a couple of times. I feel like the greens suit me, so I’ve just got to keep the long game going. I’ve been able to put a lot more practice time in this week and the swing has felt good, so it was nice to get out on the course and it felt the same.”
How it stands at the top 📊#DunhillChamps
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 12, 2024
His nearest challengers are South Africa’s Casey Jarvis, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult.
Jarvis teed off the 10th and was three over for his first two holes before he produced some incredible golf.
His most impressive stretch was the three birdies and an eagle he made on holes five, six, seven and eight, with those last two holes in particular always a tricky challenge.
“I got off to a tough start and then I just told myself, ‘C’mon, let’s do this now’, and I played lovely from there. I had three twos at holes five, six and seven which is a first for me. I absolutely love this place. The golf course just suits my game and I’ve had a lot of success here as an amateur, so when I get here I just try and play the game I did back then and it seemed to work,” said Jarvis.
Former champion Brandon Stone ended the first day just three strokes off the lead.
Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen did well to post a one-under-par 71 despite an eight on the par-five 18th.
Charl Schwartzel, a four-time winner here, also opened with a 71, while Dean Burmester started his championship with a three-under-par 69.
🚨 HOLE OUT EAGLE! 🚨
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 12, 2024
No putter required for four-time Alfred Dunhill Championship winner @CA_Schwartzel 👏#DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/QJx4Q51xOL
The championship will be live on SuperSport from 12:00-17:00 South Africa time on Friday, and 11:30-16:30 South Africa time on Saturday and Sunday.
SCORES
64 - Andy Sullivan
65 - Casey Jarvis, Alex Fitzpatrick, Marcus Kinhult
67 - Darius van Driel, Nathan Kimsey, Shaun Norris, John Parry, Brandon Stone, Andrea Pavan
68 - Julien Guerrier, Ryggs Johnston, Kristoffer Reitan, Matti Schmid, Nikhil Rama, Wenyi Ding, Romain Langasque, Nacho Elvira
69 - Keenan Davidse, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Tom McKibbin, Dean Burmester, Ugo Coussaud, Dale Whitnell
70 - Matthew Baldwin, Wilco Nienaber, Frederic Lacroix, Ryan Van Velzen, Dan Bradbury, Heinrich Bruiners, Matthew Southgate, Jens Dantorp, Pieter Moolman, Ulrich van den Berg, Kieron van Wyk
71 - Robson Chinhoi, Joe Dean, Jonathan Broomhead, Louis Oosthuizen, Daniel van Tonder, Angel Ayora, Oliver Bekker, Jack Senior, Richard Sterne, Gavin Green, Jorge Campillo, Joost Luiten, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Jamieson, Laurie Canter, Rupert Kaminski, Ockie Strydom, JC Ritchie, Adrian Otaegui, Aaron Cockerill, Oliver Lindell, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Marcel Schneider, Altin van der Merwe, Martin Couvra, Brandon Gildenhuys
72 - Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, Erik van Rooyen, Aldrich Potgieter, Richard Mansell, Sean Crocker, Darren Fichardt, Justin Walters, Jaco Van Zyl, Lucas Bjerregaard, Kyle McClatchie, Joel Moscatel, Ruan Conradie, Dylan Frittelli, Manuel Elvira, Deon Germishuys, Connor Syme, George Coetzee, Jean Hugo, Makhetha Mazibuko
73 - Yurav Premlall, Louis Albertse, Matthew Spacey, CJ du Plessis, Gregor Graham, Christiaan Maas, Lyle Rowe, Jovan Rebula, Neil Schietekat, JJ Senekal, Simon Forsstrom, Malcolm Mitchell, Pablo Larrazabal, MJ Viljoen, Francesco Laporta, Jacques Blaauw, Benjamin Hebert, Louis de Jager
74 - Rhys Enoch, Daniel Bennett, Jayden Schaper, Jeong Weon Ko, Bjorn Akesson, Thomas Aiken, Joakim Lagergren, Luke Jerling, Albert Venter, Mikael Lindberg, Herman Loubser, Alvaro Quiros, Alexander Levy, Sam Bairstow, Pierre Pineau, Michael Hollick, David Ravetto, Hennie Otto, Dylan Mostert, Kyle De Beer, Keelan van Wyk, Jaco Prinsloo
75 - Martin Rohwer, Combrinck Smit, Gerard du Plooy, Jacques P de Villiers, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence, Keith Horne, Hamish Brown, Conor Purcell, Jaco Ahlers, Wynand Dingle, Jordan Burnand, Steven Le Roux
76 - Bernd Wiesberger, Ruan Korb, Sentanio Minnie, Robin Williams, Dylan Naidoo, Peter Karmis, Jordan Gumberg, Joel Girrbach
77 - Jacquin Hess, Franklin Manchest, Brandon Robinson Thompson
78 - Astin Arthur
79 - Nicolas Colsaerts
80 - Gerhard Pepler, Musiwalo Nethunzwi
81 - Eddie Pepperell, Jordan Duminy, Kyle Barker, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Ross Fisher
82 - Gregory Mckay, Christopher Long
RTD - Calum Hill