South Africa’s Christiaan Burke and Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra took advantage of a receptive East Course at Royal Johannesburg and signed for rounds of 63 to lead the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Thursday.
 
They head the field on nine under par and are one stroke clear of the South African duo of former Alfred Dunhill Championship winner Brandon Stone and Thriston Lawrence.
 
The first round produced a tantalising leaderboard that also includes another former champion in Branden Grace just two strokes off the lead, and a group of former champions in Louis Oosthuizen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Shaun Norris, Marcel Siem and Pablo Larrazabal joining Aldrich Potgieter and Dean Burmester four shots behind the leaders.
 
It’s the kind of quality leaderboard that, as well as he played with an opening stretch of six consecutive birdies and a closing eagle, sent Burke straight to the driving range after his round.
 
“My ball striking wasn’t there at all today so that’s why I needed some range work, but I’ve never seen my putter this hot,” said Burke. “I had a good start and only figured out after the seventh hole that I made six birdies in a row. Then I had back-to-back bogeys on 15 and 16 and my caddie said just finish strong. So we did with a birdie and an eagle. I like this golf course. I play here a lot and it suits my game.”
 
His co-leader Chacarra was just as pleased with his start.
 
“I played really good golf. I’ve been playing well but the score hasn’t been there. But I trusted the plan I have with my caddie and I think we did a tremendous job. The course is playing a little easier being so soft, but you still have to hit the shots out there. With the soft greens you can attack a little more than you normally would.”
 
Just one stroke behind them, both Stone and Lawrence didn’t drop a single shot. Stone in particular was delighted with his putting performance as he chases a second Alfred Dunhill Championship title.
 
“That was amazing. It’s the first time my putter’s worked in about 18 months to two years. Hopefully that continues,” Stone said.
 
“The goal for me was to go out and play with a bit more freedom and trust my natural ability, and almost channel that inner child that used to play this course when I was a kid.”

SCORES

63 - Eugenio Chacarra, Christiaan Burke
64 - Brandon Stone, Thriston Lawrence
65 - Branden Grace, Brandon Robinson Thompson, Daniel van Tonder, Samuel Simpson
66 - Oliver Bekker, John Parry, Ben Schmidt, Karabo Mokoena
67 - Aldrich Potgieter, Dean Burmester, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Romain Langasque, Jorge Campillo, JC Ritchie, Marcel Siem, Marcus Armitage, Louis Oosthuizen, Jayden Schaper, Shaun Norris, Darius van Driel, Casey Jarvis, Pablo Larrazabal, Mikael Lindberg, MJ Viljoen
68 - Antoine Rozner, Dan Bradbury, Jaco Prinsloo, Andrea Pavan, Ruan Korb, Aaron Cockerill, Angel Ayora, Dylan Frittelli, Calum Hill, Niklas Lemke, Pierre Viallaneix
69 - Austin Bautista, Jacob Olesen, Richard Sterne, JJ Senekal, Daniel Cronje, Jonathan Broomhead, Haydn Porteous, Daniel Bennett, Luke Brown, Justin Walters, Grant Forrest, Daniel Young, Guido Migliozzi, David Ravetto, Joel Girrbach, Hennie du Plessis, Darren Fichardt, Nathan Kimsey, Rocco Repetto, Jordan Burnand, Nikhil Rama
70 - Michael Hollick, Junghwan Lee, Herman Loubser, Ockie Strydom, Martin Couvra, Joe Dean, Sebastian Garcia, James Morrison, Marcel Schneider, Graham van der Merwe, Oliver Lindell, Luis Carrera, Alejandro Del Rey, Ross Fisher, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Jaco Ahlers, Nick Bachem, Hugo Townsend
71 - Jack Senior, Heinrich Bruiners, Ryan Van Velzen, Deon Germishuys, Ivan Cantero, Nacho Elvira, Ryggs Johnston, Toto Thimba Jnr, Zander Lombard, Euan Walker, Rhys Enoch, Luke Jerling, Jamie Rutherford, Tobias Jonsson, Makhetha Mazibuko
72 - Stals Swart, Quim Vidal, Kyle Barker, Wilco Nienaber, Jeff Winther, Angel Hidalgo, Robin Williams, Louis Albertse, Todd Clements, Pieter Moolman, Julien Guerrier, Jens Dantorp, Jacques Blaauw, Werner Deyzel, Manuel Elvira, Marcus Sandile Taylor, Dylan Naidoo, Ricky Hendler, Keenan Davidse, Stephen Ferreira, Albin Bergstrom, Kieran Vincent, Warwick Purchase, Wynand Dingle, Stuart Krog
73 - Marcus Kinhult, David Law, Felix Mory, Robson Chinhoi, Yuto Katsuragawa, Jean Hugo, Jovan Rebula, Oihan Guillamoundeguy, Yurav Premlall, Adam Blomme, Martin Vorster, Joshua Berry, Neil Schietekat, Scott Jamieson, Sam Bairstow, Rupert Kaminski, Jake Bolton, Musiwalo Nethunzwi
74 - Bryan Newman, Jason Roets, George Coetzee, Lyle Rowe, Bjorn Akesson, Altin van der Merwe, Dylan Mostert, Malcolm Mitchell, Luca Filippi
75 - Jacques Kruyswijk, Joost Luiten, Ronald Rugumayo
76 - Louis de Jager, Danie Van Niekerk, Hennie O'Kennedy
77 - Francesco Laporta
79 - Trevor Mahoney
80 - Charl Barnard, Joshua Koekemoer
82 - Jacquin Hess