Danie Van Tonder tops the leaderboard

He won the Investec Royal Swazi Open two weeks ago with his final three rounds there 67-65-63, and he produced more of the same in a round which included an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey, and which put him together with Michael Hollick at the top of the leaderboard.

“The game is good,” said Van Tonder.

“I’m striking the ball well, chipping it well, scrambling it well and the trick here is hitting fairways. I’m getting it on the green enough to give myself a lot of birdie chances.”

The problem for Van Tonder’s pursuers is that there does not seem to be an end in sight to this run of form which has given him five top-10 finishes on the 2014 Sunshine Tour in addition to his victory in nine tournaments so far this year.

Hollick matched Van Tonder on 64, but he has not produced anything like the consistency that Van Tonder has.

“It’s been a couple of tournaments since I’ve featured,” he said.

“I’ve just been scraping through, making the cut being there but not quite there so it’s nice to have posted a good score.”

Behind the leading pair, rookie Callum Mowat and CJ du Plessis each carded fine six-under-par 66s.

– Sapa