Kruyswijk in solid start in Open de Portugal

Sep 23, 2021 | Featured, South Africans abroad

Jacques Kruyswijk carded a four-under-par 68 on Thursday in the first round if the Challenge Tour’s Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort in Óbidos, Portugal to take up a share of seventh.

He started his round on the 10th, and quickly got to three-under with birdies on 12, 15 and 16, and then he dropped a shot on the 17th. He quickly atoned for that with a birdie on 18, but, immediately after the turn, he made a second bogey on the first. Birdies on the fifth and sixth put him five shots behind the first-round leader, Daan Huizing of the Netherlands. Huizing’s nine-under was a bogey-free effort, and put him three shots clear of Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson and Martin Simonsen of Denmark. There were three players on five-under.

Sharing seventh on four-under with Kruyswijk were seven other players, including fellow South African Hennie du Plessis, who started his round on the first, and was quickly into his work with a birdie on the second. He gave that shot back on the fourth, and reached the turn on level-par 36. He came home in four-under 32 with birdies on 11, 13, 16 and 18.

Bryce Easton opened with a one-under 71 for a share of 40th, while Louis de Jager and JC Ritchie were on level-par in a share of 59th. Jacques Blaauw carded a two-over 74, and he shared 93rd with Portugal’s Stephen Ferreira, who plays on the Sunshine Tour.

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