Vodacom Origins of Golf Sishen Round One Wrap
[Friday, August 23, 2019 06:43:52]No surprise as Lawrence leads at Sishen -
Lawrence signed for six birdies and two bogeys in his round around the tight 6,657-metre course built in an indigenous camel thorn forest in the Kalahari town, and shared the lead with Ryan Tipping and Michael Hollick – one shot clear of 10 players who carded three-under 69.
“I’m happy with my game,” said Lawrence. “Obviously a break in the schedule didn’t make it easy, but I’ve been playing well the whole year, and I believe I’m due for a win.”
The key to his score was the fact that he birdied each of the four par-fives on the course. “There are definitely opportunities out there – the par-fives aren’t that long,” he said.
Even though the par-fives are short, they are no pushovers for the professionals. “Obviously, the key is to get it straight on the fairways,” said Lawrence. “My approach was to be as good as possible off the tee. I managed to hit nine fairways, so that was quite good. But that’s the key out here. It’s not that long here, so you have a lot of wedge shots in and the greens are quite tough. If you can get it straight off the tee, you can make some birdies.
“I’m very happy – I’ll take it. If you check the scores out from the last tournament here, four-under is obviously a good way to start.
“I enjoy the questions posed by this course. I quite fancy it from the tee-box. Obviously, there are a lot of trees and it’s a linksy vibe – you can either bomb it 280 over the trees or you can hit a two-iron and run it underneath them. That kind of choice suits me as I hit a lot of long irons off the tee.
I’m very happy and I can’t wait for the next few weeks.”
Tipping made an eagle, three birdies and a single bogey in his 68. The man who has won once on the Sunshine Tour – way back in 2009 – credited his change in fortunes in a season in which has made just two cuts in six starts to a change to a broomstick putter on the advice of his friend Shaun Norris. “It feels as if it swings itself,” he said of his first competitive round using it, “and with a short putter I felt my hands were coming into swinging it.”
It also doesn’t hurt that he became a father seven weeks ago. “That has meant I haven’t practiced as much as perhaps I should have, but sometimes that’s not a bad thing,” he laughed.
Hollick credited his score to a change in approach to preparation. “I went to Johannesburg in advance,” he said, “and that meant that I was able to have five rounds with five completely different groups of people, rather than practicing with the same people all the time in Durban.” With only two cuts made in six starts, something was clearly working.
For Lawrence, who plays out of Mbombela Golf Club in Nelspruit, there was no need to acclimatise. “This part of the world is almost like home in the bush – it’s like a golf course in the Kruger National Park!” he said.
Scores:
68 - Thriston Lawrence, Ryan Tipping, Michael Hollick
69 - Keenan Davidse, Ockie Strydom, Vaughn Groenewald, Louis Albertse, Herman Loubser, Wallie Coetsee, Madalitso Muthiya, Chris Swanepoel, Basil Wright, Matthew Rushton
70 - Anton Haig, Luke Jerling, Daniel van Tonder, JJ Senekal, Andre Nel, Thato Mazibuko, Michael Palmer, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Allister de Kock, Jonathan Waschefort
71 - James Hart du Preez, Estiaan Conradie, Lyle Rowe, Hennie Otto, Riekus Nortje, CJ du Plessis, MJ Viljoen, Andrew van der Knaap, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Stephen Ferreira, Yubin Jung, Erhard Lambrechts, DK Kim, Victor Lange
72 - Kyle Barker, Ruan Conradie, Jaco Ahlers, Toto Thimba, Jake Roos, Thabiso Ngcobo, Rhys West, Wynand Dingle, Wayne Stroebel, Titch Moore, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Christiaan Basson, Alex Haindl, Jacques Blaauw, Alpheus Kelapile, Hendrikus Stoop
73 - Heinrich Bruiners, Merrick Bremner, Jaco Prinsloo, Jbe' Kruger, Ruan de Smidt, Darin de Smidt, Cameron Moralee, Bennie van der Merwe, Ruan Huysamen, Ruan Korb, Philip Geerts, Clinton Grobler, Kyle McClatchie, Aubrey Beckley, Neil Schietekat, Doug McGuigan, Tyrone Ryan, Jean Hugo, Jacques P de Villiers, Juran Dreyer, Ruan Botha
74 - Bradley Diggeden, Teaghan Gauche, Jade Buitendag, Paul Boshoff, Breyten Meyer, Dylan Naidoo, Sean Bradley, Matt Bright
75 - Mike Maile, Callum Mowat, PH McIntyre, Dayne Moore, Peetie van der Merwe, Duane Keun, Franklin Manchest, Thanda Mavundla, Jared Harvey, Altaaf Bux, Deon Germishuys, Makhetha Mazibuko, Chris Cannon, James Kamte
76 - Hayden Griffiths, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, David McIntyre, Combrinck Smit, Jacquin Hess, Rourke van der Spuy
77 - Jason Diab, Fredrik From, Martin Rohwer, Teboho Sefatsa, Keelan van Wyk, Roberto Lupini
78 - Pieter Moolman, Dylan Mostert
79 - Jonathan Agren, James Pennington
80 - Jake Redman, Dylan Kok
81 - Cameron Esau, Theunis Bezuidenhout, Theunis Spangenberg, Derick Petersen, Arno Pretorius
RTD - Luke Mayo