On a sweltering Thursday at Leopard Creek, England’s Andy Sullivan turned up the heat himself with a sublime round of eight-under-par 64 to earn himself a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
With temperatures in the 40 degrees Celsius, Sullivan took advantage of a 7am tee-off time off the 10th and didn’t drop a single shot as he set the pace in this Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament.
“It’s so important to get off to a good start at Leopard Creek because you just know it’s going to get tougher and tougher. It generally doesn’t get easier here. So getting off to a good start is nice. It gives you that little bit of a buffer because you know you’re in for a serious grind over the next couple of days,” said Sullivan, who always feels at home on these fairways and draws heavily on his memories of winning his first two DP World Tour titles in South Africa in 2015.
“I always feel comfortable here and generally play good golf. My putting was really good today and saved me a couple of times. I feel like the greens suit me, so I’ve just got to keep the long game going. I’ve been able to put a lot more practice time in this week and the swing has felt good, so it was nice to get out on the course and it felt the same.”
His nearest challengers are South Africa’s Casey Jarvis, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult.
Jarvis teed off the 10th and was three over for his first two holes before he produced some incredible golf. His most impressive stretch was the three birdies and an eagle he made on holes five, six, seven and eight, with those last two holes in particular always a tricky challenge.
“I got off to a tough start and then I just told myself, ‘C’mon, let’s do this now’, and I played lovely from there. I had three twos at holes five, six and seven which is a first for me. I absolutely love this place. The golf course just suits my game and I’ve had a lot of success here as an amateur, so when I get here I just try and play the game I did back then and it seemed to work,” said Jarvis.
Former champion Brandon Stone ended the first day just three strokes off the lead. Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen did well to post a one-under-par 71 despite an eight on the par-five 18th. Charl Schwartzel, a four-time winner here, also opened with a 71, while Dean Burmester started his championship with a three-under-par 69.
The championship will be live on SuperSport from 12:00-17:00 South Africa time on Friday, and 11:30-16:30 South Africa time on Saturday and Sunday. – Michael Vlismas
