Rohwer uses local knowledge to great effect to share lead at Wild Coast Challenge

WHATEVER happens, no one will forget the 2018 Wild Coast Challenge easily. As if the build-up ahead of the opening day had not been stressful enough, Mother Nature saw fit to have her say yesterday morning.

A heavy downpour overnight ensured that play did not start early in the morning, due to a waterlogged course. Bunkers were overflowing, and conditions underfoot were not conducive to play. Indeed, those who are pessimistic by nature might have packed it all in and gone home.

Instead, many of the workers who had toiled tirelessly to get the vandalised greens ready earlier in the week rolled their sleeves up once more, and ensured that the course was ready for a shotgun start at 1pm.

In a field of 60, there was always the possibility that most rounds would not finish by the end of the day, given the overcast and cold conditions. When play did get under way, the traditional, hard-running of the winter course was replaced by heavier fairways, making distance off the tee a big advantage.

Durban-based Martin Rohwer is used to playing in coastal wind, and he used that local knowledge to great effect, to share the overnight lead with Victor Lange on fiveunder, through 15 holes, when play was suspended due to bad light.

Rohwer started his round with a birdie on the par-5 7th hole, before going onto a very adventurous back nine. Drop shots on the 10th and 14th were countered by birdies on the 11th and 12th, before three on the trot from the 15th to the short 17th hole.

The 24-year-old got it to five-under on the second hole, but he would have been disappointed to end his day with just par on the third hole.

Lange, meanwhile, ended his day in style, with a birdie on the 16th hole just beating the gathering gloom.

There were six other birdies during the day, while dropped shots on the fifth and the eighth were his only blemishes. Zimbabwe’s Mohammad Rauf Mandu was another young gun who got off to a hot start, as he lurks just a shot off the pace, with Jaco Prinsloo and Ruan Conradie for company.

Both Lange and Rohwer have plenty of experienced company just on their coattails. Marc Cayeux and Tyrone Ferreira are currently at three under, while dangermen like Jake Roos, Neil Scheitekat and Ockie Strydom lurk at two-under in the early going.

Today will see an early start, as the first rounds still need to be completed, before moving into the second round of a tournament that has already seen plenty of drama.