Hugo takes the early lead

JEAN Hugo found his groove at Mount Edgecombe Country Club yesterday and shot 64 to lead the first round of the inaugural Sun Sibaya Challenge by two strokes.

“I had 26 putts today, and I always try to have less than 30, so it’s a good start this week. It’s not going to happen every day that you shoot seven under, so we’ll try to build on this,” he said.

A fortnight ago the 39-yearold won the Vodacom Origins of Golf at San Lameer and became a 17-time champion on the Sunshine Tour.

He continued his run of good form in Durban yesterday with an opening round of seven-under-par 64, which put him two shots clear of secondplaced Titch Moore and Erik van Rooyen.

“A low score was on the cards, because I’ve been playing well for a few weeks now,” said Hugo. “I played the difficult holes very well today, and took the birdies when they came.”

The Centurion local started on the 10th and had to overcome an early drop. He got over it in the best way possible – by making a run of three consecutive birdies from the 14th to the 16th.

From there it was plain sailing for the world No 284, who made four birdies on the trot from the third to the sixth before signing for 64.

“I started on 10 today and had a silly bogey on 13, but after that I started playing really well and turned in twounder. I hit a good shot into the third and made a few good putts from there onwards,” he said.

Moore was glad to be back on song, and looked forward to contending for a 10th Sunshine Tour trophy.

“Jean is flying again, but we’ve got an early start tomorrow and will see how far below par we can get to,” he said. – SunshineTour.com