Ken Borland

Veteran South African golfer Nic Henning has been tearing his hair out over the last few years as his game has steadily declined and then suddenly, out of the blue, came a record-equaling nine-under-par 62 yesterday in the first round of the Joburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

The 45-year-old Henning, the nephew of Harold, turned pro in 1992 and finished in the top 10 on the order of merit in 1997/98, 1999/2000 and 2004/5, but there have been many lean years since then and the last time he was in the top 100 on the money-list was back in 2009.

“The last couple of years I’ve been playing horrible golf and you can see that in my results. I have no idea where today’s round came from, but I’ve been playing a lot recently and it feels fantastic, it’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good round,” Henning said after the best round in his lengthy pro career.

There were seven birdies and an eagle in Henning’s round, which equalled the West Course record set by fellow South African Desvonde Botes in 2007, and he went out in a phenomenal 29 strokes.

“My iron play was really good today, the best it’s been for many years, and I got off to a flyer to settle the nerves with birdies on the first two holes and then the eagle on the third when I hit a seven-iron from 169 metres exactly as I wanted to and it went in the hole!” Henning explained.

There are three golfers one stroke behind Henning on eight-under – fellow South African veterans Titch Moore and Tjaart van der Walt, as well as Thomas Pieters from Belgium.

Dean Burmester, Garth Mulroy and Australian Jason Scrivener are on seven-under, while another seasoned local, Wallie Coetsee, had the best round on the tougher East Course and is in the group on six-under.

Henning has been through the mills in recent years and his amazing round on Thursday was perhaps reward for his determination to keep going.

“You’ve just got to keep on going, fortunately I did well enough earlier in my career to qualify for this tournament through the career money-list, because pre-qualifying, which I had to do a couple of years ago, is really hit-and-miss. But you’ve got to just keep grinding away and believing you can do it,” Henning said.

It was either feast or famine for newly-announced European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke as he collected six birdies, two double-bogeys and two bogeys on his way to a level-par 72 on the East Course, while defending champion George Coetzee was in touch with the leaders after a five-under-par 66 on the West Course.

Thomas Aiken is in the same group after a 67 on the East Course, while two-time champion Richard Sterne is in a tie for 43^rd after a 69.

Moore made an incredible start, going five-under-par through five holes after a hole-in-one on the very short 98m par-three.

“I got off to a nice start and was a couple-under. I got up to the fifth and it was a perfect yardage for my 58-degree wedge, I pitched it a little behind the flag and it spun in. It never looked like it was going to miss. To make a one on the card is always special. It was awesome,” Moore said.

It’s no laughing matter trying to follow up a 62 in the first round of a prestigious tournament like the Alfred Dunhill Championship, but Branden Grace played with great aplomb once again at Leopard Creek as he stretched his lead with a 66 on Friday.

That gave the 26-year-old a commanding five-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the European Tour co-sanctioned event and Grace said he was entirely comfortable leading from the front as he goes in search of his fifth European Tour title and his first since 2012 in the Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrew’s.

“I’m very chuffed, it was a very good round. It’s always hard after a round like yesterday [Thursday], it’s so easy to come out and try and protect your score, but I didn’t do that, I was out the blocks quickly with birdies on 11 and 13 and I just kept the ball rolling very well,” Grace said after his round, which he began on the 10^th hole.

“I have a good history when I’m leading, at the Alfred Dunhill I was quite a few ahead after two days, so I’ve done it before. I’m just going to stick to what I’m doing and stay patient. On this course, a 10-under could happen again and guys will come at you,” Grace said.

One man who was not cowed by Grace’s phenomenal start was experienced Italian Francesco Molinari, who started the second round six behind the South African but kept himself in contention with a superb seven-under-par 65 to climb to second on 11-under.

“I tried not to think about his big lead and just do my best, and it worked out very well. Five shots is obviously still a very good margin, but the greens are firming up nicely and it might be different on the weekend,” Molinari said with all the calmness that comes from a successful career that has seen him rise as high as number 14 in the world rankings and appear in two triumphant Ryder Cup campaigns for Europe.

South African Tjaart van der Walt was another to roar up the leaderboard with a five-under-par 67 taking him to 10-under overall and third place, while compatriot Shaun Norris and Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard both cruised to 67s as well and were tied for fourth on nine-under with Danny Willett.

Last weekend’s Sun City winner started on the easier back nine and battled to get going, playing the first eight holes in level-par. But Willett was much happier around the turn, eagling 18 after hitting a six-iron to six feet and then picking up birdies on the second, fifth and ninth holes.

Van der Walt started on the 10^th tee and, having to hit a long-iron into the green he left himself 25 feet from the hole. But he made the putt with little fuss and that set the tone for a fine day on the greens as he collected five more birdies before eventually dropping a shot on the ninth, his last hole.

“The first hole was a swinging right-to-lefter and I made it, so I felt good from the first hole onwards. You’ve always got to fancy your chances and I was just happy to get out there and get a few numbers on the board early on. I played well. Leopard Creek is a long golf course for me, so I’m not going in with short-irons like some of the other guys, but when I got it on the greens I rolled the putts well, a couple went in, which kept the momentum going,” Van der Walt said.

Grace, however, continues to make hay while the sun shines and it would take something remarkable for him to be denied victory.