PRETORIA, 12 July 2018 – Sam Simpson must be relishing a victory after a flawless six-under-par 66 in the opening round of the Tshwane Junior Open put him the mix for a fourth straight week.

He racked up three birdies on the front nine, pencilled in a fourth red number on his card at the par four 12th and finished with a brace of birdies to set the first round target at Irene Country Club on Thursday.

Simpson has been trending towards a victory in the last month.

The Bridge Fund Managers Junior Series finalist backed up a third place finish in the Dimension Data Junior Open at the end of June with a tie for fifth in the Nomads SA Boys Under-17 Championship two weeks ago and finished sixth overall in the last Nomads Inland National Order of Merit event at Bryanston Country Club on Tuesday.

However, if the 16-year-old Bellville golfer wants to bag the Sunshine Tour Junior Series title in Friday’s final round, he will have to stave off the chasing pack, led by fellow Western Province junior Ayden Senger.

The Durbanville junior started on the 10th and raced to the turn with birdies at 10, 11, 14, 15 and 17 but his putter cooled down over the last nine holes. He bogeyed the fifth, but made up for the loss with a final gain set seven to post five-under 67.

Gauteng North’s Christiaan Maas and Daniel Cronje from Boland also pose a threat.

Maas from Pretoria Country Club was impressive with a tie for eighth in the SA Boys Under-17, while Cronje from Paarl chased the leaders at Bryanston, finishing fourth. Maas carded a 69 and Cronje is four off the pace in joint fourth with Calvin Maia from Kingswood.

Christiaan Burke from North West, who edged out top ranked Martin Vorster in a play-off for victory at Bryanston, cannot be discounted, either. The Potchefstroom junior was three under through 17 holes before a double bogey at the closing hole saw him finish on one-under,

Burke shares sixth with Southern Cape pair Ben van Wyk and Eden Spangenberg, Nikhil Gopal from KwaZulu-Natal, Francois Jansen van Rensburg from Limpopo and Central Gauteng’s Marcus Taylor, who aced the par three 13th and eagled the par five 17th for 71.

 

First Round Scores

66 Samuel Simpson

67 Ayden Senger

69 Christiaan Maas

70 Calvin Maia; Daniel Cronje

71 Marcus Taylor; Nikhil Gopal; Eben Spangenberg; Francois Jansen van Rensburg; Ben van Wyk; Christiaan Burke

72 Andre van Dyk; Ryan van Velzen; Deon Germishuys; Luhan Bester; Saul Moss; Judd Sundelson

73 Oliver Goldhill; Martin Vorster; Brendan Porter; Nicholas Souranis; Yurav Premlall; Kieron van Wyk

74 Nash de Klerk; Drikus Joubert

75 Luka Stanisavljevic; Brandon Weir; Donneo Catanho; Jordan Duminy; Tristan Galant; Liam Ross

76 Damian Osner; Tyler Johnston; Grant Ferreira; Charles Pieterse; Tiaan Diedericks; Dean Sanders

77 Alessio Graziani; Shaun Jones; Reece Coleman; C.J van Wyk; James Murray; Keyan Loubser; Francois van der Walt

78 Tiaan Tibshraeny; Romain Legentil; Aiden Leeb; Tshimollo Mapefane; Samual Mckenzie

79 Nikhil Rama; Ryan van der Klis; Herman du Plessis; Nico Els

80 Jacques van der Merwe; Remon Rabie; Miles Taylor; Max Hansen; Emerson Bam

81 Claudio Carvalho

82 Darren Neyt; Malan Potgieter; Andrew Inggs

83 Alan Buttle; Jean Pierre van der Watt; Angelo Keffers; Jan-Hendrik Nieuwoudt

84 Hezron Frieslaar

85 Jarryd Elliott; Tiago Swart

86 Ernest Jaco Ludick

87 Alric Rowaan Rooi

88 Jan Petrus Lion-Cachet

 

Ends

 

PHOTO – Samuel Simpson from Western Province fired a flawless 66 to lead the first round of the Tshwane Open at Irene Country Club; credit Ernest Blignault.