Jayden Schaper and Hennie du Plessis hold a share of the lead after a low-scoring opening round at the BMW International Open.
Related: Daniel Brown targeting history in Munich
The South African duo were among the morning wave of starters in Germany, and they both carded bogey-free rounds of 64 to move to eight under par and set the early pace at Golfclub München Eichenried.
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Countryman JC Ritchie was one-shot further back alongside Anthony Quayle as the Australian, playing in one of the last two groups of the day, birdied his final hole.
Schaper currently sits in fourth position on the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World following back-to-back victories at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at the start of the season, and he is targeting a third win in Munich this week.
Starting at the tenth, Schaper, playing in a high-calibre three-ball alongside Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed and the returning Marco Penge, was soon into the red as he made back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th.
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He then made his first chip-in of the day at the 14th, before backing up another gain at the 16th with another piece of short-game excellence at the par three 17th to turn in 31.
He soon got to six under with a birdie at the long par three second, before he capitalised on the par five sixth and ninth to be the first in the clubhouse at eight under.
He was soon joined by Du Plessis, who is on track for his career-best campaign so far on the DP World Tour after a strong burst of results on his home continent during the International Swing.
After birdies at the par five 11th and 18th were sandwiched by a gain at the 15th, his round caught fire on his back nine.
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After back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth, he converted from five feet for an eagle at the sixth and picked up his fifth shot in a four-hole stretch at the ninth to join the top of the leaderboard.
English quartet Paul Waring, Ross Fisher, Dan Bradbury and Joe Dean share fifth place alongside South African Michael Hollick, American Davis Bryant and Scotland’s Daniel Young on six under par.
Player Quotes
Jayden Schaper: I just got off to a nice solid start. I made a nice little eight to ten footer on the first hole for par. I was just trying to play straightforward and I made a nice little birdie and had two really cool chip-ins on my front nine. From those positions, normally you’re just trying to make an up and down, trying to chip inside like six to seven feet, you’re pretty happy with that. But I chipped them in and they were just nice moments in the round and I kind of just kept the momentum from there.
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I think just coming into the event, I know the course, I’m comfortable with it. I’ve been here a couple of years now. I love the area, love the city, so it’s always a week that I enjoy coming to.
We got into the Pro-Am yesterday. I had a good time out there with the guys I was playing with. It’s just a completely different golf course from Monday. Greens were soft but I was still impressed that we got out yesterday after the amount of rain that we had.
The bunkers were a bit different, but the golf course was kind of soft today. The greens were rolling good. They were a bit soft, so I mean you could attack most of the pins and if you did miss in a couple of the wrong areas, you can kind of land it soft. Of course it was pretty good overall.
Hennie du Plessis: I made quite a nice start. Slow, but very solid. Hit fairways, hit the greens. I was very patient that front nine because I could have gone either way on a few holes.
On the back nine I started great, hit a couple of great drives. I got lucky with a nice lie in the fairway bunker on three. I managed to hit it on the green, make a good two-putt, and then sort of got going then.
I hit it close on four, close on five and very close on six. On seven I made a nice little slider. Overall, I was disappointed that I didn’t birdie the last, but you know, it was a good, solid round. I’m very happy with it. If you drive it well, you give yourself a lot of chances on this golf course.
JC Ritchie: I’ll take it. I made lots of birdies and I had a really hot putter, which helps. I’ve been doing a lot of hard work with the putting, so that seems to be coming along nicely. I’m just going to give myself a couple more chances and it will be fine.
You’ve got a really good driving hole on the first, a really long iron on the second, a good long par three and then a really strong par four on the third. You don’t really have to do much wrong to start off with one or two bogeys.
The game’s been close. I’ve been having lots of good days, lots of good hitting days, not making a lot of putts and then having a good putting day and not hitting it that great.
