Herman Loubser made six birdies and no bogeys on Monday in his opening round of six-under-par in the Big Easy IGT Challenge Tour’s Chase to the Sunshine Tour #33 at Pecanwood Golf Estate to take the first-round lead.
He got into his work early with a birdie on the opening hole, and three more on the front nine, coupled with two on the back nine, saw him to his total of 66 and a three-stroke lead over Michael Kok. Ryan Tipping and Kyle McClatchie shared third on two-under, while Michael Pfeifer and Regan Steyn were in fifth of one-under.
Loubser birdied three of the four par-fives in a clinical display, missing out only on the 10th, and, together with the first, two of the par-fours and one of the par-threes. He has been in good form recently, as he goes in search of regaining his Sunshine Tour playing privileges.
“Pecanwood is a typical estate course,” said Loubser of the layout next to Hartbeespoort Dam. “My gameplan was really just to keep my shots off the tees in play. That gives you a chance to attack the par-five and leaves you with quite a few wedges into the par-fours.
“I wouldn’t mind doing exactly the same tomorrow – use the par-fives as the launch-pad for my scoring, and I’ll gladly take any more birdies that come my way. It’s not as dry as some of the courses we’ve played recently, and the greens were running very well, so it lends itself to that kind of approach.”
Second-placed Kok had one bogey in his three-under, while Tipping had two and McClatchie one. Kok birdied just one of the par-fives, while Tipping picked up shots on two of them. McClatchie also made two birdies on the par-fives, but he also had a bogey on another of them.