Illness hampered both Liam Grehan and Rowan Lester’s opening rounds at the the Sunshine Tour’s FNB Eswatini Challenge and they have lots of work to do to earn Saturday tee times.
It was early starts for both Irishmen in round one, and being under the weather didn’t help, with Lester in the 6:00 am lead-out group off the first tee and Grehan following shortly afterwards on the 10th.
A week after producing a T10 finish at the SunBet Challenge in Pretoria – his highest finish of the campaign which lifted him to a career-high world ranking – Grehan shot a two-over 74 that leaves him tied for 105th.
He’d clawed his way back to level-par with a birdie on the first – his 10th – but two bogeys over the final eight left him with a lot of work to do to make the top 50 and ties who advance after Friday’s second round.
Lester’s task is even greater after a five-over 77. The Hermitage man made three birdies on the back nine but he’d gone out in a five-over 41 and followed each of his birdies with a bogey on the next.
With 59 players at -2 or better, Grehan will likely need a round in the mid-60s and Lester will have to be close to shooting the low round of the day to earn a final round tee time.
Luke Brown, who powered to victory in the final round last week, has taken up right where he left off and a blistering nine-under 63 that featured two eagles on the back nine has given him a two-stroke lead at the top.
The South African leads from a quintet on -7 that features one Frenchman and four fellow South Africans.
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