Ken Borland

European golfers have dominated the opening day of the Africa Open at East London Golf Club, with an Irishman, seven Englishmen, a Frenchman and a Spaniard all in the top 13 in what is certainly a bad joke for the local contingent.

South African golfers have won all seven previous editions of the Africa Open, but they are going to have a hard time keeping the trophy at home this time around, with just three golfers – Neil Schietekat, Oliver Bekker and Trevor Fisher Junior featuring high up the leaderboard.

Ireland’s Kevin Phelan, who has been tipped as one of the rising stars of European golf, claimed three successive birdies from the fifth hole, having started on the ninth, to post a five-under-par 67 and claim the lead. The 24-year-old has been in good form in his second full season on tour, finishing in a tie for second in last week’s Joburg Open after shooting a 66 on the final day.

He was joined late in the day by Matt Ford, who had been to qualifying school nine times before finally claiming his card last year. The Englishman posted a 66 on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, and yesterday he was arguably even more impressive in shooting a bogey-free 67 in blustery conditions on the East Coast.

The English dominance of the summer continued with Richard Bland, David Howell and John Parry all in the tie for third on four-under-par, alongside Schietekat, the leading South African, and Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva, who started in the most brilliant fashion with an eagle at the first and three more birdies before a double-bogey at the ninth halted the momentum.

Bekker and Fisher Junior are in the group on three-under, with England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, the former world number one amateur, his compatriots Tom Lewis and Chris Lloyd, and Frenchman Gregory Havret.

Uitenhage Golf Club’s Allister de Kock hopes that keeping it simple at the Africa Open will pay off and the approach certainly worked in an encouraging first round for the struggling pro.

De Kock spent most of the first day in the Sunshine Tour/European Tour co-sanctioned event at East London Golf Club inside the top-20 on the leaderboard after a solid one-under-par 71 in tricky, windy conditions.

“I just need to focus on what I have to do, I know my strong points and keeping the ball in play is one of those, which is what you have to do on this course,” De Kock said after his round.

De Kock, starting on the ninth hole, began solidly with two pars, but then dropped a shot at the par-four 12^th, a tough hole with sharp elevation changes.

He immediately gained the shot back though with a birdie on the 13^th, but then dropped again on the par-four 14^th.

But the 31-year-old then found his feet and parred his way to the turn and then picked up three birdies on the front nine, with just a bogey on the par-four fourth to set him back.

“It wasn’t easy today but I’m happy with 71 in the wind. I had a few drops because of my putter, but then I sank a few putts to give me some momentum. I learnt from the other guys in my three-ball, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Le Roux Ferreira, hitting the low balls, so I started hitting lower too,” De Kock said.

De Kock is in his fourth year on the Sunshine Tour, but has made the cut in just two of 32 events, so if he can build on his good start in the Africa Open then it could be a stunning boost to his career and bank balance.

The reaction of his father, Frans, who is caddying for De Kock, after he sank his par-putt on the eighth hole (the end of the front nine at East London GC) made it clear what a good day it was for the former Eastern Province Amateur Matchplay champion.

“My dad is on the bag and he was very happy, you could see his expression when my round finished. He gave me a thumbs-up and a hug!” De Kock said.

Which just goes to prove how such great delight can come from such simple things.

It may be mischievous to say there are a handful of White quota players in the Springbok World Cup squad, but there certainly are players who can count themselves most fortunate that Heyneke Meyer obviously has such a high opinion of them.

There are the walking wounded of Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Duane Vermeulen and Coenie Oosthuizen, and overseas-based players like Schalk Brits and Morne Steyn who have been chosen ahead of younger talent that has excelled in Super Rugby.

I fully back the selection of De Villiers – he has performed for the last four years both in terms of his own play and the captaincy, and his tenacious return from a serious knee injury and then a fractured jaw should be applauded. Having worked so hard to be fit for the World Cup, De Villiers will undoubtedly bring immense hunger to the tournament. Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende are the in-form centres but are both inexperienced in high-pressure situations, so there’s no question De Villiers is there on merit.

Meyer is undoubtedly gambling on Du Preez and Vermeulen, who have not played a Test this year, but if they do come off they are the sort of players who can win you the World Cup, so I support their inclusion as well, even though there are major question marks surrounding them.

But there must be something else going on that the rugby media are not aware of when it comes to the selection of Oosthuizen. For all the talent he undoubtedly possesses, he has done little in a Springbok jersey and hasn’t played a Test since last November. He only completed half the SuperRugby season and at the end of June he had his third neck operation in four years.

Meyer hopefully knows something we don’t when it comes to Coenie, otherwise his selection is utterly insane. What’s more, it sends an incredibly negative message to Vincent Koch, Marcel van der Merwe and Steven Kitshoff, three up-and-coming props.

And the argument that Oosthuizen is in the squad because he can play on both sides of the scrum doesn’t hold water when you consider the problems he has had at tighthead and the fact that Trevor Nyakane is more than capable of switching between loosehead and tighthead as well.

The World Cup squad selection just highlighted more inconsistency from Meyer as he is willing to gamble on the 50/50 (at best) fitness of players like Oosthuizen, but not on Marcell Coetzee, the outstanding Springbok loose forward in the Rugby Championship this year.

The recall of players like Zane Kirchner and Morne Steyn also disappoints me because it signals the intention of Meyer to return to the same brand of rugby the Springboks played in 2012/13. The backline does need some attacking spark, which is why Jesse Kriel and Willie le Roux would be in my first-choice starting XV. I did not agree with the rave reviews Kirchner received after the Buenos Aires game – he was solid but he really offers nothing extra in attack.

Kriel, Pat Lambie, Lwazi Mvovo and JP Pietersen can all play fullback should something happen to Le Roux. Incidentally, I would also have chosen Lionel Mapoe ahead of Pietersen to bolster the midfield stocks, with the 29-year-old veteran battling to regain the form of old that made him an integral part of the 2007 and 2011 World Cup teams.

The selection of Kirchner has wasted the extra place Meyer was gifted by only choosing five props, instead of the six he thought he had to at the start of the international season. The demands of World Cup rugby surely compel one to choose more forwards and the coach could have had both Siya Kolisi and Coetzee in his squad, but instead the backs received an extra player who I really don’t believe is going to provide the brilliance that wins you the World Cup.

The selection of Steyn and Brits is another slap in the face of transformation because it ignores the outstanding Super Rugby form of Elton Jantjies and Scarra Ntubeni.

My World Cup squad – Willie le Roux, Lwazi Mvovo, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Jean de Villiers, Lionel Mapoe, Bryan Habana, Pat Lambie, Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies, Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar, Francois Hougaard, Duane Vermeulen, Marcell Coetzee, Willem Alberts, Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Siya Kolisi, Victor Matfield, Lood de Jager, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis, Frans Malherbe, Marcel van der Merwe, Bismarck du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Scarra Ntubeni, Trevor Nyakane, Tendai Mtawarira.

The bizhub Highveld Lions have a handsome lead at the top of the Sunfoil Series log after winning three of their four matches but, as their opponents this week from the other side of Gauteng would say, they are certainly lus for more.

The Lions hammered the defending champions, the Nashua Cape Cobras, by an innings last weekend in Potchefstroom and they can now take control of the four-day competition if they beat the second-placed side, their neighbours the Unlimited Titans, at Willowmoore Park in Benoni from today. The Lions are currently 16.22 points ahead of the Titans with the competition heading into a midway break after this weekend’s full round of matches.

“We’ve played some good cricket but we’re not looking at the league positions, the competition only really starts taking shape after seven or eight games. We just want to keep doing our skills right and do what we need to do to get results, that’s how we like to play. We want to make sure we break the opposition game down slowly, not try to win on the second or third day, but take it to the last day after tea,” Lions coach Geoff Toyana told The Citizen.

The other matches this weekend see the Sunfoil Dolphins, smarting from their defeat in East London against the Warriors, travel to Kimberley to take on the Chevrolet Knights, while the Chevrolet Warriors host the Cobras in Port Elizabeth.

The Lions married patient batting up front, led by Stephen Cook’s marvellous century, with disciplined seam bowling and penetrative fourth-day spin from Dale Deeb to beat the Cobras. Paceman Sean Jamison announced his arrival in franchise cricket with eight wickets in the match, while Dwaine Pretorius claimed four first-innings wickets.

With Pumelela Matshikwe also bowling steadily, the Lions have successfully adapted to the loss of almost their entire attack – Eddie Leie, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Aaron Phangiso, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Hardus Viljoen all being unavailable.

“The most pleasing thing was the way the guys who came in performed. I’m very happy with the depth here, because last season I wasn’t happy when they didn’t come to the party,” Toyana said.

Titans coach Rob Walter knows the importance of the clash.

“If we can get a win then we’ll be in a great position for the second half of the competition, but if the Lions win then they’ll open up a big space on the log at the halfway mark,” he said.

The Titans’ first priority is to absorb the loss of batsmen Dean Elgar (wrist injury), Theunis de Bruyn and Farhaan Behardien, as well as all-rounder David Wiese. Graeme van Buuren should play his first four-day game of the season, having regained form with a century this week against Holland, while Heino Kuhn and Henry Davids will also have key top-order roles.

The Knights are having an even tougher time in terms of losing batsmen, with Gihahn Cloete, Reeza Hendricks, Rudi Second and Rilee Rossouw all unavailable. Gerhardt Abrahams, Michael Erlank, Patrick Botha and Diego Rosier are their replacements against the Dolphins. But in Quinton Friend, Dillon du Preez, Malusi Siboto, Corne Dry and Werner Coetzee, coach Sarel Cilliers is able to field one of the better attacks around.

The Dolphins have lost Craig Alexander to a hamstring injury, with coach Lance Klusener calling up promising pacemen Mathew Pillans and Graham Hume.

The Warriors are the most settled of the franchises at the moment and they welcome back Simon Harmer for their match against the Cobras, who will be hoping the experience of the returning Justin Kemp can change their fortunes.