Nolan and Kennedy well placed in South Africa

Liam Nolan and Max Kennedy are six shots off the lead after the opening round of the MyGolfLife Open at Pecanwood Estate.

Both players are in a share of 45th place on four-under-par as Daniel van Tonder leads by two strokes after firing a sensational ten under par round of 62.

The South African, who triumphed last week in the opening event of the HotelPlanner Tour season, carded eight birdies and an eagle without a blemish on a low-scoring day in Hartbeespoort.

The 33-year-old leads by two from Peter Karmis from Greece, and countrymen Luke Brown, Nikhil Rama and Jason Roets who share second place on eight under par.

Nolan, who finished in third place last week on his first professional start must have thought pro life was easy when he got within touching distance of the lead again after seven birdies in his first twelve holes.

Reality bit the Galway man hard as he dropped a shot on the par-3 13th and double bogeyed the par-3 17th to slip back down the leaderboard alongside Kennedy who carded a bogey-free 68.

Jonathan Caldwell is a shot further back while Robert Moran and Dermot McElroy have work to do from four-over after rounds of 76.

Van Tonder overturned a seven-shot deficit on the final day of the SDC Open before claiming a maiden HotelPlanner Tour title on the first play-off hole last week, and he was pleased to continue his good form as he goes in search of back-to-back wins on home soil.

“I’ve been playing well the last year or so, so it’s nice to catch a wave,” he said. “It’s quite nice to start the week ten under for a change.

“It’s not playing that hard so there are good scores to be had. I left a few birdies out there, so I’ve got a few more days to hopefully do better than ten under.”

Van Tonder, starting on the tenth, birdied two of his opening three holes, before adding three more gains from the 14th – his fifth – to go out in the 31.

The 33-year-old matched that on his back nine, adding three more birdies and an eagle at the par five fifth to set the early pace.

Van Tonder is looking forward to leading from the front for the next three days, after his come-from-behind victory last week.

“It’s going to be a bit different compared to last week, but I’ll just keep my foot on the gas and keep on going,” he added.

“I actually think it makes my job a bit easier for the next few days starting like this, but the course is playing well.

“I just kept it easy. I was hitting fairways, giving myself chances with a few putts and I’ll try to do the same tomorrow.”

Eight players share sixth place on seven under par at the top of a congested day one leaderboard, including Frenchman Félix Mory and Oihan Guillamoundeguy, South African’s Jaco van Zyl, Martin Vorster and Bryce Easton, Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen, Sebastian Friedrichsen from Denmark and Portugal’s Tomas Gouveia.

The second round gets under way tomorrow at 6:30am local time, with Van Tonder teeing off alongside Scotsman David Law and Albanian Ilirian Zalli at 12:00pm.