DP World Tour : Investec South African Open...Leaderboard
Thriston Lawrence leads the Investec South African Open Championship by a shot after firing an -8 64 to equal the course record he set last year.
Lawrence posted nine birdies and just the one bogey in his first round at the Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate and stayed at the top despite charges from late starters Ross Fisher and Jens Fahrbring, who both shot 65.
German Matti Schmid had led for most of the day after teeing off at 6.20am and posting three eagles in an impressive 66.
But South African Lawrence, recently named last season’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, jumped to the summit before Fisher finished strongly with three birdies in his last four holes and Swede Fahrbring joined the Englishman.
Scott Jamieson and JJ Senekal share fourth place with Schmid on six under while young Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin is in a six-strong group three off the lead after a 67 that included a hole-in-one.
After missing the cut at last week's Joburg Open, Canada's Aaron Cockerill took advantage of some extra practice time to post a bogey free -4 68. He's in a group of 12 at T13, four shots off the lead heading into Friday.
This week's venue set the record for the longest ever used on the DP World Tour. It measures 8,161 yards and Lawrence said: "It's really long but I like that. I like to play full shots into the greens. It's a long golf course but I think it suits me.
"It's quite forgiving off the tee but you need to be in play to give yourself a full shot."
Five of the last seven editions of this event have been won by South Africans and Lawrence would love to add his name to the list.
"Everybody wants to get their hands on that trophy so that's a good start. But there's three days left so I've just got to pray and hope," he said.
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edit Bryan Angus
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