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 probably not hard to get inspired in the South African Open when Ernie Els is the competition and he shoots 67, and fellow South African Jbe’ Kruger managed to go one better in the first round at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday.

Kruger and Englishman Andy Sullivan are the first-round leaders of the second oldest national open in golf on six-under-par 66, with Els in a tie for third one shot back with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and 2008 champion Richard Sterne.

Spaniard Jordi Garcia Pinto and South African Erik van Rooyen also challenged for the lead before falling away in the closing holes, Pinto with three successive bogeys for a 68 and Van Rooyen with dropped shots on 17 and 18 for a 69.

It was an excellent day all-round for Kruger, who produced the only bogey-free round and enjoyed the treat of seeing his name just above his childhood hero’s on the SA Open leaderboard.

“It was a perfect start to the year after two weeks off, you couldn’t ask for a better way to get the confidence back. I hit my irons very well today, I only hit a couple of fairways but the greens are still very good. If you hit it straight, then there are a lot of birdies out there,” Kruger said.

“But it’s great for South African golf that Ernie is in contention, it’s just because it’s Ernie Els and you have to respect him. But I’m one ahead of him and that’s very nice too,” the diminutive 28-year-old said with an impish smile.

The excellence of his iron-play meant Kruger was able to get out of the rough when he strayed off the tee, but for the rest of the field, the cloying Kikuyu was a nightmare.

“If you miss from the tee, it is so tough to put the second on the green. So if you miss one shot, you’re going to get bogey or worse,” Pinto said.

The well-travelled Sterne was even more outspoken.

“If you don’t hit the fairway then this course is as brutal as I’ve seen, I’ve seen a few things in my career but this is the worst rough. It’s a great golf course and it really doesn’t need much tricking up.

“I think they’ve overdone it a bit with the rough. On the fourth, I was only about eight metres off the fairway and I could only hit a lob-wedge 10 yards. You just can’t advance the ball, which I haven’t seen anywhere else. I get that it’s a national Open, but in the British and U.S. Opens, you get thick rough but you can still advance the ball 120 metres.

“This kikuyu is so knitted together, if we didn’t have spotters you wouldn’t find your ball in it. It’s crazy. If they want to make the course tougher, they should just firm up the greens,” Sterne said.

Els, however, held the opposite view, but then the five-time SA Open champion has miraculous powers when it comes to golf courses.

“The organisers are getting soft, they had complaints and they cut the rough down this morning. You now can get decent lies in the rough and I hope they leave it to grow now again,” Els said after an inspired round that even he said reminded him of the good old days.

“I’m thrilled with my round. I had a really nice back nine, I hit probably every green and had a lot of looks at birdie. Physically I feel very good, it felt like the old days out there today and it’s nice to be back,” Els said.

The return of Els, now the official ambassador for the SA Open, created plenty of excitement and a large crowd followed him all morning at Glendower, which is close to where he grew up in Kempton Park.

Kruger is also an East Rand boy and, with Charl Schwartzel handily placed on four-under-par, Sterne strongly in contention and Thomas Aiken, George Coetzee and Branden Grace also all under par, a thrilling event looks in store as the 2015 golf year gets underway.

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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.

A new putting grip but a return to the old driver and caddy is starting to pay rich dividends for Branden Grace as he roared into the lead in the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek on Thursday with a magnificent 10-under-par 62.

Grace breezed past fellow South African Jake Roos, who shot a superb seven-under-par 65 in the morning, to lead the European Tour co-sanctioned event by three strokes, with a pair of Englishmen, rookie Matt Ford and Sun City champion Danny Willett, lurking on six-under-par.

Grace’s last triumph came in the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links at St Andrew’s and his world ranking has plummeted to 117, but he did finish 31^st in last season’s Race to Dubai. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old is determined to recapture the glories of 2012 and has made the perfect start to his 2015 European Tour campaign.

“I’ve been playing well for the last month, I’m in a really good state of mind, I’ve gone back to my 2012 driver and I changed to a claw-grip on the greens three months ago, so that’s just getting better. Plus it was obviously a mistake in 2013 to part ways with Zack [Rasego, his caddy], but I’ve learnt from that, we’ve had a good chat and that was the end of it. When he pulls me off a shot, I trust him,” Grace said after his faultless round.

The back nine, with its three par-fives, is traditionally the place to cash in at Leopard Creek and Grace collected six birdies, but he was also brilliant on the front nine, birdieing the first, third, sixth and seventh holes.

“It’s one of those courses where you can get going and I didn’t really make any mistakes. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have a look at a bogey in my round, but it’s nice to get the ball-striking going and make a few putts. It was good shot after good shot, I like this course, it suits my game,” a delighted Grace said.

Willett was also never in the market for bogey as he cruised to his 66 and he will look to challenge Grace when he tees off early on the second day.

Roos, playing his first event with a fully-fledged European Tour card, also had a fine day with a dream start as he started on the par-four 10^th and promptly holed his second from 163 metres with a five-iron for eagle.

“The first hole, when I holed out with my second, was just the ice-breaker I needed. The five-iron came out perfectly, it looked good all the way but I couldn’t see because of the slope of the green. One guy put his hand up at the green and I just started laughing and took it from there,” Roos said after his fabulous round.

“I felt good about the day, I was comfortable, swinging nicely and I had some great birdie putts on the back nine, where there are more birdie opportunities. The front nine is quite tough, especially the opening holes. Six is the only really short one and I was able to take advantage there, and then I had a nice putt on the last from 15-20 feet. The ninth is playing long and I had to hit a six-iron in, a bit into the wind. But I was rolling the putts very nicely today.”

There are, however, prices to pay on this highly-rated course if golfers are off-line, as Charl Schwartzel discovered in another up-and-down round that featured four bogeys and seven birdies for a three-under 69. Another of the favourites, Louis Oosthuizen, is also on three-under.