Grace in the hunt at Sun City
BACK NINE BLITZ: AUSTRIAN COMES HOME IN 31 BLOWS
South Africa’s Grace matches leader with spectacular late run to join quartet at four-under on day one at Sun City.
Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger went to town on the back nine as he snatched the lead late on the first day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City yesterday with a five-underpar 67.
Before the 32-year-old, ranked 12th on the Race to Dubai, came storming home there had been a healthy congregation of golfers gathered on four-under-par.
But Wiesberger came home in just 31 shots – and that included a bogey on the dangerous par-four 13th – as he fired three consecutive birdies from the 10th, and gained three more shots on the 14th, 16th and 18th holes.
“You really want to be on the fairways to attack the greens on this course and I did that well, so I’m very happy. It was a decent round, I hit the ball pretty well and controlled it well in the wind.
“I made a few good putts and I chipped in on 16. It felt like our whole group got a roll on from the 10th, we were all positive and Matt Fitzpatrick also got four birdies on the back nine. But this course can still bite you if you are sloppy,” Wiesberger said.
South Africa’s Branden Grace also found the answer on the back nine as he also came home in a stunning 31 shots, including a run of birdie-eagle-birdie from the 13th, finishing with a 68 and in the tie for second with Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, Scott Jamieson of Scotland and American Julian Suri.
Dubuisson was arguably the most consistent of the frontrunners with two loops of 34, and just one dropped shot in his round, on the par-three 16th.
“I was very good with the driver, I didn’t miss many fairways and then trusted my long irons. I really like this course, you’ve just got to try keep the ball on the fairway, even if it means you have a long second shot, just play really safe,” Dubuisson said.
Defending champion Alex Noren, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, SA Open champion Graeme Storm and Japan’s Hideto Tanihara were in the tie for sixth two shots behind Wiesberger.