Englishmen, ‘Mad dogs’ and Italians rule at Sun City

Mad dogs and Englishmen thrived in the midday sun on Thursday as Kiwi Ryan Fox and Luke Donald of England dominated the first-round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Fox savaged the last 10 holes of the Gary Player Country Club layout, after arriving on the ninth tee on level par after an early birdie and a bogey.

The 35-year-old fired six birdies and an eagle three on the 14th to take the sole lead on an eight-under-par 64.

Donald, the European Ryder Cup captain, was one shot back after playing a flawless sevenunder 65.

And nobody was more surprised by their performances than the two golfers themselves.

Fox said he couldn’t believe Louis Oosthuizen had shot 64 here in 2019. “And it feels a little bit weird to have done that today. We had a lot of good numbers out there today, managed to get the yardages right, putted really nicely, but still feels a bit strange, to be honest.

“I guess this golf course has kicked my arse several times before so maybe it was just nice to me today. It’s going to come back and bite me tomorrow,” the son of former All Black flyhalf legend Grant Fox said.

He struggled to understand quite how he’d done it. “I would say I played OK on the front nine ... and pretty much from 11 on I didn’t miss a golf shot out there.

“When you’re in that state you’ve just got to get out of your own way,” said Fox, adding “not a lot” was going through his head at that stage.

Donald, who has not had a top-three finish on the DP World Tour since 2015 seemed rather bemused after his round. “A little bit unexpected, to be honest. I wasn’t showing that much form coming into this week. I’ve been feeling a little bit better about my game,” said the 44-year-old, who last played here in 2014.

“I kept it in play off the tee and then my iron play was really good. I think I hit 15 greens today ... I got the distances very right all day, gave myself a lot of good looks and was able to make a few putts on the back nine.”

Two shots behind Donald, on 67, was Italian Guido Migliozzi, one of only two other golfers to shoot bogey-free rounds on Thursday. The other, another Italian Eduoardo Molinari, was in a five-way tie for seventh place on 69.

Italian Fabrizio Zanotti, the only man to have shot a hole in one in the history of this tournament, on the fourth hole back in 2016, though he nearly put his ball in the water this time around; Australian Min Woo Lee, whose home club in Fremantle is also adorned with Kikuyu grass; and, Englishman Richard Bland were tied for fourth on 68.

Italians didn’t get a mention in Noel Coward’s song, Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

The top two SA golfers are 2017 champion Branden Grace and Justin Walters, both on 70, along with seven others, including defending champion Tommy Fleetwood of England.

Fox warned that this course was not one that could be attacked endlessly.

“I think this is a hard golf course to really keep your foot on the gas. I think it’s going to come back and bite you. I played with Adrian [Meronk] today and he didn’t look like he did a whole lot wrong, he shot four over. That’s really easy to do out there.