Day one of the Sunshine Tour’s Kit Kat Cash & Carry Pro-Am looked set to be one of frustration for Rowan Lester and Liam Grehan, but things were looking a little brighter as they were signing their cards.
Both men were making their second starts of the Sunshine Tour season having both earned their stripes at Q-School last month, but Grehan had needed to play his way in via Tuesday’s pre-qualifier.
Playing in back-to-back groups, it was Grehan who was out first and carded 15 straight pars before finally opening his birdie account on the par-3 16th. And like the proverbial buses, once one arrived another soon followed and he grabbed his second birdie on the par-5 17th, but he closed out with a bogey-five on 18, leaving him tied for 59th at -1.
Lester didn’t have long to wait to record his first birdie of the day and a ‘three’ at the par-4 opener was an ideal start. A double bogey on the par-5 second wasn’t the follow-up he had in mind, and he traded one more birdie with one more bogey on the front side to turn at +1.
Another single birdie and a single bogey followed in the next seven, leaving him in need of a grandstand finish to get into the clubhouse in red figures. And he duly delivered, making an eagle on 17 and following it in with a birdie at the last to leapfrog his fellow countryman and sign for a two-under 70 that leaves him sharing 42nd.
In a field where 97 of the 120 participants are South African, it’s a Mexican who leads the way. Luis Carrera made seven birdies and an eagle to take a one-stroke lead after the opening 18 holes, with South Africa’s Trevor Fisher Jnr in solo second at -8.
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