Coming off the back of a career-high T2 finish at the Sunbet Challenge at Mount Edgecombe, Rowan Lester’s strong from continued and a four-under 68 left him tied for 20th after day one in Rwanda.
The Hermitage man began his tournament on Kigali Golf Resort’s 10th hole, and birdied the 12th, 13th and 17th holes to reach the turn at -3.
Birdies were hard to come by on the front side, but he managed to find another on the par-4 sixth to get to -4, and he closed out the round with three pars to complete a bogey-free 68 in which he found 16 of 18 greens in regulation.
Liam Grehan lies tied for 72nd at level-par, though it was a score he’d gladly have taken halfway through the round. The Mullingar native began on the first and bogeyed three of his first nine to reach the turn at three-over.
A birdie on the 10th sparked a revival however, and he added further red numbers on the 15th and 18th to claw his way back to even but he’ll need to improve on that number on Friday if he’s to make it through to the weekend.
Though many struggled on front nine, two men who didn’t were Travis Procter and Nikhil Rama who made hay on their way to matching 63s that give them a one-stroke lead at -9.
Procter birdied four-in-a-row to round out his front nine and added another on the 10th, while Rama reeled off his own five-birdie streak from two through six.
The South African duo head a leaderboard dominated by fellow countrymen, with 16 of the leading 19 players all from the southern nation.
Leave a comment