Bradbury high on the air after first round lead

Dan Bradbury burnt up the Houghton Golf Club layout as he fired two eagles in three holes and knocked in seven birdies to take the first-round lead at the Joburg Open on Thursday.

A double drop on the parfour 15th and a bogey four on his final green caused him to card an eight-under-par 63, one shot ahead of German Nick Bachem.

Both men are 23 years old, and they decided to take advantage of the extra distance offered by the altitude, using the heavy artillery at every opportunity. It paid off, though both had to get used to the new yardages.

Bradbury, who was invited to play only on Friday, hit good drives for his two eagles, on the third and fifth holes.

“Both those par-fives I was having 180 [yards] and 188 in and hitting nine iron. It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Bachem looked like a child feasting in a candy store, enthusing that he had hammered one drive 360m far in Wednesday’s practice round.

“I had so much fun,” said Bachem, who had woken up with a sore neck. “The practice rounds were a little confusing sometimes, standing there and I couldn’t believe the numbers I’m hitting with my shots, with my irons especially. The ball’s flying forever.”

That determined his strategy. “I tried to drive everywhere. I’ve got nothing to lose ... I just said to myself, ‘Hit driver and get as close as possible to the green’ and I thought I’m going to make definitely more bogeys, but I was sure I was going to make a lot of birdies as well.

“So it was kind of fun playing a lot of birdies and not too many bogeys,” said Bachem, who shot eight birdies, four on each nine, as well as a single drop on the par-four second for his 64.

Bradbury realised the course was open to low scores.

“I looked at the leader board [before teeing off at 11.30am] and I’m seeing guys six under through six and everyone’s three under through four it felt like, so I knew there were birdies out there,” said the Englishman, who spent four years playing collegiate golf in the US.

He was eight under after 15 when the players were called off briefly ove a lightning threat.

A birdie three on the 17th took him to nine under before his bogey on the last hole.

“I think the thunderstorm stopped my momentum and made me think about it [being in the lead] a little bit. I probably wasn’t thinking about it before that. After that it was in the back of my head, definitely, especially coming up the last.”

The storm returned a little later, forcing nearly 50 players to abandon course for the day.