CENTURION, Gauteng – Jake Redman finished with an eagle and two birdies for a 64 that earned him a one-shot lead after the first round of the Sunshine Tour’s Mediclinic Invitational at Centurion Country Club on Wednesday.
Redman’s opening round of eight under par put him one clear of the group of George Coetzee, Dylan Naidoo, Luke Brown, Trevor Fisher Jnr. and Keagan Thomas.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone quite low and I’m very happy with the way things went,” said Redman, who certainly enjoyed the Centurion Country Club course.
“It’s a nice estate golf course. There are one or two demanding tee shots, but you can’t be too unhappy with the golf course shooting eight under par. I didn’t hit myself into any trouble and kept the ball in play.”
Teeing off the 10th, Redman admits the 64 caught even him by surprise as he came through 15 holes on four under par.
“It felt like it came a bit out of nowhere. I didn’t make many putts over the first 15 holes, which was frustrating. But I was also hitting it quite close. Then I came to the last three holes and made a huge putt on the par-five seventh hole for eagle, a long putt for birdie on eight and then on in two for a birdie at the last. All round the game was solid and I’m happy with the way things went today.
“It’s been frustrating not to shoot a really low round because I’ve put myself in a good position to do so before. So it was nice to get it done today. When I was four under through 15 I felt like I could’ve been eight or nine under then already. So it was nice to get that reward at the end of it.”
With three rounds still to go, Redman is not getting ahead of himself. But it is a timely point in the season to hit good form, with two big DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournaments to come this month in the SDC Championship and the Jonsson Workwear Open.
“We’ve got some good opportunities to come over the next few weeks, but I’m taking it one step at a time.” – Michael Vlismas
