Basson leads, but battling own mediocre record in co-sanctioned events
Christiaan Basson is one of the more consistent performers on the Sunshine Tour so his blistering eight-under-par 64 to claim the lead in the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek is not a total shock, but the 33-year-old from Cape Town is battling his own mediocre record in co-sanctioned events with the European Tour.
Basson has played in 30 previous European Tour tournaments, making the cut in just 14 of them, with just a single top-10 finish, in the 2013 South African Open at Glendower. He has gone low in the first round a few times in co-sanctioned events, including last year’s Alfred Dunhill Championship when he opened with a pair of 69s before fading on the weekend with rounds of 74 and 75.
“It’s a funny game and you never know when you’re going to get it right, so when you get it going you must capitalise on it. I think I need to stick with the same game plan – I just tried to hit fairways and tried to play for the right areas of the greens – it worked well, so why change it?” Basson said after his brilliant round at the prestigious course alongside the Crocodile River.
Basson is three shots ahead of the chasing pack on five-under-par which includes three-time champion Charl Schwartzel.
Schwartzel could not finish his round due to a thunderstorm that stopped play at 5.26pm on Thursday, but is looking in ominous form as he collected seven birdies through 17 holes, and missed a couple of makeable putts as well.
Mark Williams of Zimbabwe and Englishman Matt Ford, both of whom collected eagles – on the par-four fourth and par-five 13th holes respectively- are the other golfers tied for second.
Niclas Fasth of Sweden, playing his 500th European Tour event (the 31st golfer to reach the mark) and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands are amongst the large group of golfers on four-under-par, while 2008 champion Richard Sterne is on three-under after 17 holes.
Another former champion, Pablo Martin, the winner of back-to-back titles in 2009/10, was rapidly climbing up the leaderboard as he moved to six-under-par through 15 holes. The Spaniard had started on the 10th, but by the time he walked off the ninth green he was practically weeping as he closed with three successive bogeys to drop down into the group tied for 12th.
Englishman Jeff Inglis had a similar story, starting with five successive birdies but then dropping two shots at the par-four eighth and picking up further bogeys at the 13th, 16th and 17th holes to also finish on three-under.
Louis Oosthuizen started on the 10th and birdied the par-four first hole to go to five-under-par and a share of the lead, but was then derailed by a double-bogey seven on the second, eventually finishing on a two-under-par 70, while defending champion Branden Grace was a stroke further back.