For a hometown favourite, Kyle de Beer certainly looked at home as he made the perfect start in challenging conditions to lead the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun Boardwalk at Humewood Golf Club on Wednesday.
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De Beer opened with a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to lead by one shot over Justin Walters. The round had to be suspended because of darkness, but only one group was unable to complete their first rounds and will do so on Thursday morning.
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For the better half of the opening day it seemed like five under par would be the leading score as a bottle-neck formed amongst the five players of Tristen Strydom, Luke Brown, Jean Hugo, Benjamin van Wyk and Toto Thimba Jnr. all tied on that score. But that was until Walters and De Beer broke free late in the afternoon.
De Beer started his round with a birdie on the second hole and followed this with an eagle on the par-five seventh to set the tone for his day.
“It was a lovely day to get off to such a nice start, especially considering how tricky the wind and the weather was. I was hitting it very solid from the get-go with a lot of nice shots into the green. The hole-out eagle on the seventh hole was a real bonus and that kickstarted the round,” De Beer said.
But the true magic of his round was a sublime finish of four birdies over his final four holes.
“I made a couple of nice saves – the one on the 10th hole comes to mind. It was a really nice up-and-down over a bunker to keep the momentum going. The rest of the round caried on in the same vein, but the finish was very nice. The birdie on the 18th hole was a real bonus as I hit it about 15-foot past the flag, but rolled it in. It was a lovely way to finish the round and a really good day.”
With several top-10s in his career to date, including on this SunBet Challenge series, De Beer is still searching for his maiden victory on the Sunshine Tour.
“I have been expecting a round like this. It’s really nice for me to see that there is a little bit of progress in the work I am doing. I am just going to keep my head down and keep working.”
