Heading up the leaderboard

Play in the €1.3-million Joburg Open was halted Friday, 15 January, with a second lightening delay. Thirty players were left to complete their rounds early Saturday.

Both Lynn and Schwartzel were playing the tougher East course at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington golf course. The two players ended their first day on 63.

Danny Willett of England topped a group of four players on 132 – 10-under-par – as he shot a six-under on the West course.10-under 132 after he went six-under on the West course. Also on 10-under are South African’s Hendrik Buhrmann (65) and Jbe' Kruger (69), along with and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke (69).

Coming from a win in the Africa Open in East London a week ago, Schwartzel seems to have maintained a consistent form. His three-under was bogey-free.

“It seems like the form from last week is carrying over and with a good weekend, if I play like I’m playing, it could get very interesting,” he said.

With some tough pin-placements on the East course, Schwartzel was content to make sure he kept mistakes out of his game: “If you can eliminate the mistakes, you’re always going to be playing good golf,” he said.

And he made a big 10-footer for birdie on 18 which took him one shot closer to Lynn than he might have been. “You need to make those little 10 or 12-footers to keep you in the tournament,” he said.

Lynn was also happy with his putter after he opened with a 63 on the West course and followed it with his 67 on the East course.

“I got off to a good start, hitting it stiff on the first for birdie, and that put me in a good frame of mind,” he said. “I continued to play like I was playing yesterday. Yesterday I was a bit tentative with the putter. Today it was much easier though,” he added.

Defending champion Anders Hansen of Denmark missed the cut, finishing on two-over at halfway.
Source: Sunshine Tour