Ken Borland

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.

Ross Fisher and George Coetzee each played the first 15 holes of the Nedbank Golf Challenge without dropping a shot, but it was Englishman Fisher who nailed two successive birdies to claim a two-stroke lead in the first round at Sun City on Thursday.

Fisher, tall and athletic, could be a poster-boy for elegant golf and he produced high-quality iron play and deft putting to move to a brilliant seven-under-par.

Coetzee is more on the burly side but he matched Fisher through 10 holes with five birdies, but thereafter found himself scrambling for pars more than he was putting for birdies.

Brooks Koepka of the United States and Frenchman Alexander Levy will also fancy their chances of finishing high up on the first-round leaderboard as they moved to four-under-par through 14 holes.

South African Charl Schwartzel will be pleased that he has managed to collect five birdies, to offset two bogeys, while struggling with his swing and will be a force to be reckoned with if he continues to improve.

Defending champion Thomas Bjorn raced out of the blocks with a birdie at the first hole, but a double-bogey and two bogeys on the front nine, plus two more dropped shots on the back nine has seen him quickly plummet to the lower reaches of the leaderboard on five-over-par.

Seven golfers were on two-under – veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez, Brooks Koepka, South Africans Tim Clark and Louis Oosthuizen, Jonas Blixt, Marcel Siem and Stephen Gallacher.

Both Coetzee and Fisher relied on precision iron play as they vaulted into the lead around the turn with a pair of birdies on the par-five ninth and 10th holes.

Thailand’s Kiridech Aphibarnrat had provided plenty of entertainment for the Sun City spectators as he claimed an early share of the lead when he played the first five holes in three-under-par, with four birdies and a bogey, but bogeys on the ninth, 14th and 16th holes saw him fall back. Coetzee claimed birdies on the first three holes to provide early cheer for those hoping for a first South African winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge since Trevor Immelman in 2007.

The opening holes of the European Tour event held few worries for the golfers as Joost Luiten, Dawie van der Walt, Gallacher and Danny Willett all picked up an early brace of birdies.

Van der Walt, in the field by virtue of winning the 2013 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, made the fastest start of all by birdieing the first hole and then chipping in for eagle on the 520m par-five second, but he could not pick up any more shots on the next three holes, dropping a stroke on the par-three fourth after finding the greenside bunker and then leaving his chip way past the hole. Three successive bogeys from the 15th hole then left him well off the pace.

A disastrous triple-bogey seven at the 11th saw Luiten slump to over-par for his round.

Clark, who teed off in the first group, set the early pace with birdies at the first two holes, but he then lost his way with a bogey at the fifth and a double-bogey at the tricky par-four eighth, before getting back under par with birdies at the 10th and 11th holes. He completed a solid two-under-par 70 with a superb 30-foot putt for birdie from off the green on the last hole.

The conditions at Sun City were close to perfect, a slight breeze helping to offset the heat, and the golfers took advantage with 13 of them under par.

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