Ken Borland

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.

Ross Fisher was the most consistent driver of the ball in the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge and it gave him the lead at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City on Thursday.

The Englishman was the picture of elegance as he fired a six-under-par 66, opening up a two-shot lead on the three players on four-under – South Africa’s George Coetzee, Germany’s Marcel Siem and Frenchman Alexander Levy.

The only dropped shot in Fisher’s round came on the par-three 16^th when he missed the green left, but otherwise the Tshwane Open champion was immaculate off the tee, setting up the seven birdies he scattered through his round, on his third appearance in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“I felt my driver was really good, I didn’t miss many fairways. This is the sort of course where you don’t want to be overly aggressive, but I like to hit driver a lot – I’m generally quite long and pretty straight. I did use three-wood on a few holes and hit a hybrid on 18, but using driver paid off well,” Fisher said.

Siem, who has won a European Tour event in each of the last three years and claimed a victory on South African soil when he won the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Houghton Golf Club in 2004, had the most remarkable card.

A bogey on the par-four sixth and a birdie on the par-five ninth were the calm before the storm. His back nine featured four birdies, two bogeys and an eagle, when he sank his eight-iron from 168 metres on the par-four 17^th, enabling him to take home a Volvo V40 T5 R-Design car worth nearly R400 000.

Coetzee was also more than happy with his round, which started superbly with three successive birdies, but became a battle on the back nine. Having matched Fisher stroke-for-stroke on the first 11 holes, Coetzee did extremely well to not drop a shot until the 18^th hole.

“I’m happy with my round, to start with three birdies was special, a wonderful surprise. The first 11 holes, my ball-striking was great but this game does not go perfect all the time and I made a couple of mistakes, bad shots, on the back nine but managed to recover well. On 18 I hit my second long left, I duffed a five-iron, but you can’t have everything your way in golf,” Coetzee said.

Fisher said his sole bogey came after his “one loose shot”.

“To have one bad shot in 18 holes, you can’t be unhappy, I’ll definitely take that. Hopefully I can put together three more solid rounds and give myself a chance to win on the back nine on Sunday,” Fisher said.

Coetzee said he has been working on his pre-shot routines and another golfer whose game is clearly a work in progress at the moment is Charl Schwartzel.

The highest-ranked South African golfer managed to limit the damage when he did find himself in trouble, shooting a 70 to finish in a tie for fifth place with veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, fellow South Africans Tim Clark and Louis Oosthuizen, Scotsman Stephen Gallacher and Brooks Koepka of the United States.

Defending champion Thomas Bjorn had a disastrous day, an eight-over-par 80 leaving him in last place.

Levy, playing in the Nedbank Golf Challenge for the first time, looked in control of his game throughout with two birdies in each nine.

A top-class six-under-par 66 gave Ross Fisher a two-shot lead as the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge drew to a close on the Gary Player Country Club course at Sun City on Thursday.

Fisher, a tall, elegant Englishman, gave a display of precision iron-play as he collected seven birdies in the first 15 holes, a bogey four on the par-three 16^th the only blemish on a high-quality round.

Playing partner George Coetzee matched him stroke-for-stroke over the first 10 holes, but a scratchy back nine ended with a bogey on the 18th – the South African’s only dropped shot – as he ended with a 68.

Coetzee was tied for second with Germany’s Marcel Siem and Frenchman Alexander Levy.

Levy was a picture of consistency as he completed his first competitive round at Gary Player Country Club without a bogey, birdies on the second, ninth, 10^th and 13^th holes leading to a highly creditable 68.

The shot of the day came from Siem as he eagled the par-four 17^th and won himself a Volvo V40 T5 R-Design car worth nearly R400 000. His second shot on the 437-metre hole along the Sun City Lake seemed to be heading well right of the flag, but it hit the collar of the green and scooted sharply left, rolling into the hole.

It was that kind of day for Siem, especially on the back nine: he birdied the 10^th, 11^th, 13^th and 14^th holes, but dropped shots at 12 and 15, before his dramatic eagle lifted him into a share of second place.

Charl Schwartzel, whose swing is obviously not as settled as he would like, managed to post a two-under-par 70 and is in a tie for fifth place with veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, fellow South Africans Tim Clark and Louis Oosthuizen, Scotsman Stephen Gallacher and Brooks Koepka of the United States.