South Africa’s Jayden Schaper didn’t drop a single shot in heavy rain and despite a suspension of play for lightning, and England’s Nathan Kimsey ran onto the tee with 30 seconds to spare after making it in as first reserve through a late withdrawal to see them share the clubhouse lead with Germany’s Maximilian Steinlechner on a wild first day of the Joburg Open on Thursday.
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Schaper, Kimsey and Steinlechner did well with their opening rounds of six-under-par 64 for a one-stroke clubhouse lead over Wilco Nienaber, Jacob Olesen, Darius van Driel and Hugo Townsend.
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The almost constant rain from early on Thursday morning and the one hour and 45-minute delay because of lightning means the first round will have to be completed on Friday morning.
South Africa’s Luke Brown is seven under through 12 holes, and Spain’s Angel Ayora is on six under with three holes to complete.
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Jacques Kruyswijk, who lost in a playoff for this title last year, and former Joburg Open champion Richard Sterne made good starts with their rounds of two-under 68, and American Patrick Reed – making his debut in this event – signed for an opening one-under 69.
Schaper was only too happy to have finished his round as he looks for his third victory on the DP World Tour this season.
“It’s always nice to get off to a good start, especially with it being so wet out there. It’s hard to judge what the greens are going to do with your approach shots and the spin. There were a lot of slow patches on the greens as well. But I just played the same game I’ve been playing. From tee to green I was pretty good,” he said of a round that included an eagle on the par-five fifth hole where he hit a rescue to 15 feet and holed the putt.
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“I’m looking forward to the rest of the week. We’ll have to see what the weather has planned for us. You can’t control that so we’ll see what happens.”
Kimsey was just as delighted with his round, especially considering he didn’t think he’d play. He was waiting at the clubhouse as first reserve, and a late withdrawal saw him running to the 10th tee with seconds to tee off.
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“I turned up at the club first thing hoping I’d get a tee time. The last tee time in the morning wave came and went and no word. I came back to the clubhouse and had my feet up when I suddenly got the phonecall to say I was in,” he said.
“Under the circumstances my round was fantastic. I just took it as an opportunity I got at the last minute, and it worked out pretty well.”
