14 JANUARY 2010: NEIL Schietekat fixed his putting grip late last year and it paid dividends as he fired a nine-under-par 62 to take the first round lead in the Joburg Open.

The tournament, with a purse of €1.3-million, is the richest of the four Sunshine Tour events co-sanctioned by the European Tour, and is the fourth in the 2010 Race to Dubai.

"It's all about putting, and I actually changed my putting grip just before the Alfred Dunhill Championship and it's started to pay off now," said Schietekat of his round that had nine birdies and no dropped shots.

Neil Schietekat and Jooste Luiten on the final hole

"When I teed off today, I thought that we were on the easier course, the West course, and I knew that around five- or six-under would be a good one," he said. "And then I made a lot of putts. I hit the ball pretty solid, and I putted really well."

Schietekat had to wait out a one hour and 42 minute break as there was a lightning threat, but he finished with yet another birdie attempt on 18 which nearly went in.

Charl Schwartzel of South Africa and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke teed off early and beat the lightning to share second place with Jbe' Kruger and the English duo of Simon Khan and David Lynn.

Playing together on the West course, considered by most of the 210-man field to be the easier of the two, Schwartzel and Clarke each carded eight-under-par 63 on the  shorter of the two layouts – the West course is 6,509 metres (7,119 yards) and the East is 6,940 metres (7,592 yards).

Schwartzel, who won last week's Africa Open, made his total despite a double-bogey six on the 12th where he four-putted. But that was after an incredible run of seven consecutive birdies which started at the fifth.

He had started with a birdie on the second, and then he made that career-best tally of consecutive birdies: "I think seven is the most I have made," he said. "I made six at a tournament somewhere, I can't remember where."

Clarke, on the other hand, was steady and flawless as he opened with birdies on one and two, and picked up three more ahead of the turn.

Despite that, he was still one behind Schwartzel at that point, but three more on the way in – including one at the 17th – drew him level.
"I hit it close a lot of times, and the only putt I really holed was on 17 from about 20 feet," said Clarke of his round.

Kruger followed up his third-place finish at the Africa Open with just a single bogey in his round, and, with his stated preference for hitting long irons, his eight-under on the West course could be converted into a challenging halfway total on the longer West course.

Lynn and Khan had to wait out the lightning delay. Khan's round included an eagle and two bogeys, while Lynn had two bogeys and 10 birdies.

The best score from the East course came from Barry Lane and Danny Willett, the English pair each carding six-under 65s which will stand them in good stead as they take on the West course in the second round.

Defending champion and 2009 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Anders Hansen of Denmark had a round of one-over 73 on the East course.

Scores

(RSA unless specified)

62 - Neil Schietekat
63 - Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke (NIR), Jbe' Kruger, Simon Khan (ENG), David Lynn (ENG)
64 - Alastair Forsyth(SCO)
65 - Barry Lane (ENG), Andrew McArthur (SCO), Clodomiro Carranza (ARG), Danny Willett (ENG), Matthew Zions (AUS)
66 - Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Soren Hansen (DEN), Alejandro Canizares (ESP), John Parry (ENG), Henrik Nystrom (SWE), Adilson da Silva (BRA), Joost Luiten (NED), Peter Whiteford(SCO), Paul Broadhurst (ENG), Carl Suneson (ESP)
67 - Hennie Otto, Richard Sterne, Tyrone van Aswegen, Deane Pappas, Andrew McLardy, Peter Baker (ENG), Neil Cheetham (ENG), Christiaan Basson, Pelle Edberg (SWE), Branden Grace, James Kamte, Darren Fichardt, Marcel Siem (GER), Reggie Adams, Shaun Norris, Desvonde Botes, Tjaart van der Walt, Jaco Ahlers
68 - Christian Ries, Ariel Canete (ARG), Robert Rock (ENG), Dylan Frittelli (AMA), Michael Hoey (NIR), Gary Boyd (ENG), Anton Haig, Ross Wellington, Andrew Curlewis, Richard McEvoy (ENG), Titch Moore, Jamie McLeary (SCO), Dave Horsey (ENG), Jake Roos, Keith Horne, Doug McGuigan, Paul Lawrie(SCO), Josh Cunliffe, Jacques Blaauw, TC Charamba (ZIM), Hendrik Buhrmann
69 - Roope Kakko (FIN), Carlos Del Moral (ESP), George Coetzee, Steven Jeppesen (SWE), Warren Abery, David Dixon (ENG), Kenneth Ferrie (ENG), Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR), Tyrone Mordt, Klas Eriksson (SWE), Oliver Fisher (ENG), Carlos Rodiles (ESP), Teboho Sefatsa, Vaughn Groenewald, Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE), Paulo Pinto (ARG), Julien Guerrier (FRA), Scott Hend (AUS), James Morrison (ENG), Paul Waring (ENG), Jarmo Sandelin (SWE), Sion E Bebb (WAL), Julien Quesne (FRA), Andrew Marshall (ENG), Matthew Carvell
70 - Danny Lee (NZL), Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Sam Hutsby (ENG), Dion Fourie, Mark Murless, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE), Phillip Archer (ENG), Dawie Van der Walt, Simon Thornton (IRL), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Charlie Ford (ENG), Oliver Bekker, Michiel Bothma, Louis Oosthuizen, Chris Wood (ENG), Marc Cayeux (ZIM), Brandon Pieters, Callum Macaulay (SCO), Thabang Simon, Stephan Gross Jr (GER), Mark F Haastrup (DEN), Irvin Mazibuko, Gary Lockerbie (ENG), Robert Dinwiddie (ENG), Scott Drummond (SCO)
71 - Theunis Spangenberg, Daniel Brunson (USA), Benjamin Hebert (FRA), Dale Whitnell (ENG), Alan McLean (SCO), Jean-Francois Lucquin (FRA), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), Alex Haindl, Jamie Elson (ENG), Grant Muller, Ryan Cairns (ZIM), Mark Brown (NZL), Lorenzo Gagli (ITA), Clinton Whitelaw, Chris Swanepoel, Jaco Van Zyl, David Hewan, Joakim Haeggman(SWE), Martin Maritz, Justin Walters (RSA), Stuart Anderson (CAN), Prinavin Nelson, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA)
72 - Des Terblanche, Nic Henning, Daniel Greene, Stephen Gallacher (SCO), Charl Coetzee, Patrik Sjoland (SWE), Fredrik Ohlsson (SWE), Steve Basson, Albert Pistorius, Lee Slattery (ENG), Michael Dreyer, Ryan Tipping, Lindani Ndwandwe, Toto Thimba (Jnr), Adrian Ford, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Ulrich van den Berg, Andre Bossert (SUI), David Drysdale (SCO), Anders Hansen (DEN), Jean Hugo, Richard Finch (ENG), Niall Kearney (IRL), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA), Phillip Price (WAL), Steven O'Hara (SCO), Benn Barham (ENG), Bradford Vaughan, Francois Delamontagne (FRA), Louis Moolman, Louis de Jager, Kevin Stone
73 - Ali Tsai (TPE), Thomas Aiken, Rhys Davies (WAL), Miles Tunnicliff (ENG), Merrick Bremner, Gary Murphy (IRL), Brett Liddle, Gary Clark (ENG), Andrew Tampion (AUS), Jake Redman, Marco Ruiz (PAR), Francois Calmels (FRA), James Kingston, David Howell (ENG), Tyrone Ferreira, Warrick Druian, Mohamed Tayob
74 - Darren Holder, Stuart Manley (WAL), James Ruth (ENG), Andre Cruse, Byron Smith (USA), Cameron Johnston, Chris Gane (ENG), Eugen Marugi, Peter Lawrie (IRL), Daniel Vancsik (ARG), Omar Sandys, Sam Little (ENG)
75 - Steve van Vuuren, Keenan Davidse, Divan van den Heever
76 - Craig Liebenberg, Rick Kulacz (AUS), Sipho Sithole (AMA), Andrew Georgiou
77 - Willie van der Merwe, Dean Lambert, Markus Brier (AUT), Alpheus Kelapile, Anthony Michael
79 - Chris Williams, Emmanuel Masoliedza (AMA)
81 - Muswalo Nethunzwi (AMA)
Source: Sunshine Tour