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Laurie finishes at a canter for Dimension Data lead

George  – England’s Laurie Canter finished eagle-birdie in the first round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am on Thursday on his way to an eight-under-par 64 on the Outeniqua course at Fancourt Hotel and Golf Estate.

That gave him a one-stroke edge over Jaco Ahlers, who also played his round on Outeniqua in the tournament that has the players playing one round on each of Outeniqua, Montagu and The Links ahead of the cut at 54 holes, after which the final round is contested over Montagu. Le Roux Ferreira and Wallie Coetsee shot the best score on Montagu, their six-under there matching those of Anthony Michael and Doug McGuigan on the par-73 Links.

“The eagle-birdie finish was a little bit of a cherry on top of a good day,” said Canter. “I hit driver up 17, took it a little right of the flag and holed a nice putt. Then on 18 I hit a good wedge shot pretty close and holed the putt – a nice way to finish, for sure.”

In fact, in addition to that eagle, Canter made four birdies on his homeward nine to close out that nine in 30 strokes.

It was especially sweet because it was his best tournament round on the allegedly ‘easy’ Outeniqua, the course on which everybody expects to score well. “This is my fourth time playing the tournament, and I’ve never actually broken par on Outeniqua,” he said. “I’ve always played a little better on Montagu, so I wanted to get after it today. But I got off to a bit of a slow start. I got it going towards the end of the front nine and I’m obviously delighted to shoot 64.

“When you play on these three different courses like this you can get a bit caught up with people expecting you to go low on Outeniqua. I’m playing The Links next, and I’m just going to try and play my best each day and see where I end up going into Sunday when everyone’s on the same course and it’s a little easier to judge.”

Ahlers made eight birdies and a bogey in his 65. “I really played solid from tee to green,” he said. “I made a few putts. It’s a nice way to start the event.”

Ferreira had a bogey-free round for his 66 on Montagu, with an eagle and four birdies. “I made a couple of good up-and-downs to start off,” he said. “Those could have gone either way, so it was good to get those right.”

For the leader, it all comes down to taking advantage of his good start. “The overnight rain didn’t really affect the course, I feel it has been playing really soft this year anyway – especially The Links, which is much softer than in previous years, so I guess we’ll see what happens there tomorrow,” he said. “I think you’ve just got to be positive, take a few pins on and the score is going to be good.”

Scores:

-8 - Laurie Canter 64

-7 - Jaco Ahlers 65

-6 - Le Roux Ferreira 66, Doug McGuigan 67, Wallie Coetsee 66, Anthony Michael 67, Mark Williams 66

-5 - George Coetzee 67, Dylan Frittelli 67, Heinrich Bruiners 67, Ruan Pretorius 67

-4 - Ockie Strydom 69, Garth Mulroy 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68, Jean Hugo 69, Chris Swanepoel 69, Lee Westwood 68, JC Ritchie 69, Keith Horne 68, Chris Lloyd 68, Jared Harvey 69

-3 - Wynand Dingle 70, Jaco Prinsloo 70, Alex Haindl 69, Steven Ferreira 69, Dean Burmester 69, Tyrone Ferreira 69, Paul Lawrie 69, Martin Rominger 69, Lee Slattery 69, Jonathan Agren 69, Hennie Otto 69, Ross McGowan 69, Danie van Tonder 70, Colin Nel 69, Wil Bateman 69, Jeff Winther 70, Gavin Moynihan 69, Luke Joy 69, Allan Versfeld 69, Riekus Nortje 70, Jason Viljoen 69, Ruan de Smidt 69, Bryn Flanagan 69, Toby Tree 69, Stuart Smith 69

-2 - Jason Froneman 70, Jbe' Kruger 70, Erik van Rooyen 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr 70, Andrew Georgiou 70, Tjaart van der Walt 71, Vaughn Groenewald 70, Justin Hicks 70, Lyle Rowe 70, Jake Redman 70, Kevin Rundle 70, Andre de Decker 70, Desne Van Den Bergh 70, Makhetha Mazibuko 70, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 71, Divan van den Heever 70

-1 - Oscar Stark 71, Oliver Bekker 72, Gareth Maybin 71, Merrick Bremner 71, Callum Mowat 71, Ross Kellett 72, Mark Murless 71, Ryan Cairns 71, Bradley Neil 71, Neil Schietekat 71, Grant Veenstra 71, Matthew Carvell 71, Teaghan Gauche 71, James Kamte 71, Rhys Enoch 71, Bryce Easton 71, Breyten Meyer 71, Stefan Engell Andersen 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 71, Omar Sandys 71

Par - Justin Harding 73, Jacques Kruyswijk 72, Darren Fichardt 72, Hennie du Plessis 73, Morne Buys 72, Jeff Inglis 72, Christiaan Basson 73, Jack Harrison 72, Madalitso Muthiya 72, Morten Orum Madsen 72, Peter Karmis 72, Steve Surry 72, Sipho Bujela 72, Ulrich van den Berg 72, Keenan Davidse 72

+1 - Tristen Strydom 73, Christofer Blomstrand 73, Theunis Spangenberg 73, Titch Moore 73, Daniel Greene 73, Jeff Hopkins 74, Gert Myburgh 73, Rourke van der Spuy 74, Eddie Pepperell 73, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu 73

+2 - Derick Petersen 74, CJ du Plessis 75, Louis de Jager 75, Michael Hollick 74, Francois Coetzee 74, Daniel Hammond 75, Andrew Odoh 74, Jacquin Hess 74, Tyrone Ryan 74, Bryce Bibby 74, Ryan Tipping 74, Leorin Pillay 74, Divan Gerber 74

+3 - N.J. Arnoldi 76, PH McIntyre 76, Callie Swart 75, James Kingston 75, Thabang Simon 76, Jean-Paul Strydom 76, Jake Roos 76, Jaco Mouton 75, Pieter Kruger 76, Gerard du Plooy 76, MJ Viljoen 75, Ben Fouchee 76, Stephen Ferreira 75

+4 - Johan van der Wath 77, David Law 77, Andrew Curlewis 77, JJ Senekal 77, Dwayne Basson 76, Trevor Mahoney 77, Jack Kutumane 77

+5 - MJ Daffue 77, Francesco Laporta 77, Dayne Moore 78, Greg Bentley 77, Armandt Scholtz 77, Brett Liddle 77

+6 - Charl Coetzee 79, Russel Franz 79, Irvin Mazibuko 79, Thanda Mavundla 78

+7 - Julian Suri 80, Anton Haig 79, Gideon Pienaar 80, Ruan Huysamen 80

+8 - Rhys West 81, Gerrit Foster 81, Teboho Sefatsa 80

+9 - Neal Herman 82

+10 - Alan Michell 83, Richard Finch 83

+11 - Tyron McComb 84, Johan Engelbrecht 84

+14 - Drikus van der Walt 87

+17 - Marc Cayeux 90

 

 

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