Erinvale Country and Golf Estate would serve up a difficult opening day for the South African Women’s Open as the afternoon groups saw the course’s teeth with the wind picking up as the day wore on.
Rose Davies and Switzerland’s Elena Moosmann lead the way overnight, having stitched together fine rounds of six-under, just one shot clear at the top. Lauren Walsh and Olivia Mehaffey would feel the brunt of the afternoon conditions and go into Friday well over par and with work to do to make the weekend.
Walsh began on the 10th in tricky conditions, and she would go on to bogey her opening hole. A run of four pars after this would have given hope of settled nerves as she picked her way around the back-nine. The par-4 15th would come to be the beginning of Walsh’s undoing today, a double followed closely by another on the next hole would see her tumble down the order. A solitary birdie on her opening nine was to come on the 18th but Walsh would turn in 40 and four-over. A par-par start to her second nine would be undone by a run of three bogeys from the par-5 3rd as Walsh’s round seemed to unravel. Just the single birdie on her back nine would see Walsh home in 38 and she goes into Friday on +6, needing to attack the course tomorrow if she is to stand any chance of extending her week into Saturday.
It would prove to be a similar story for Olivia Mehaffey as the tricky wind conditions continued to take its toll on the late Thursday starters. It all started out fine for the Banbridge woman as she would par her opening three holes to get herself acclimatised to the day. This proved short lived however, as two doubles were up next, bookending her only birdie of her front-nine at the par-4 5th. Three more pars saw Mahaffey steady the ship to turn on three over after her opening 39. A bogey start to her back nine saw her drop further back and despite a solid four consecutive pars to follow, her troubles would only deepen as her day wore on. Another disappointing run of three bogeys from the 15th followed by a par on her final hole see Mehaffey languishing third from bottom on seven over par.
It is no coincidence that all the leading protagonists on Thursday were in the early morning groups, with benign conditions allowing some good scoring opportunities before the wind got up as the day progressed. Davis and Moosmann lead the way overnight, with the Swiss 22-year-old looking to emulate the achievements of last week by her compatriot Tamburlini, who sits on two-under in 20th spot after her day. There is plenty of capable company at the top of the leaderboard for our overnight leaders, with Norway’s Julie Boysen Hillestad one shot adrift of the pair. Lurking one further back are OOM leader Bronte Law, five-time champion of this event, Lee-Anne Pace and England’s Hannah Burke who takes part in her 200th Ladies European Tour event this week.
Overnight joint leader, Rose Davies was quick to recognise the advantage of her early tee time as she spoke after her round: “We definitely had the better of the weather conditions in the morning. It was nice and calm on the front nine, so I thought to myself if I can get a couple, whilst everybody is going to have to battle the wind in the afternoon, that will give me a little bit of an advantage.”
Speaking having completed her morning round, co-leader Moosmann was pleased with how her game shaped up today: “I’m really happy. My drives were really good. I hit a lot of fairways and gave myself birdie chances. My putter was pretty hot today. I’m in pole position [with the wind picking up this afternoon].”
Friday morning sees the order swap and those who faced the wind today will be hoping for calm conditions in order to capitalise on any opportunities to claw back some ground. Walsh hits the course in the 4th three-ball of the day on the 1st tee at 7.45am local time. Group 17 meanwhile will begin their day on the 10th as Mehaffey looks to rally on day two. She tees off at 8.15am.
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