February 13th 2014, East London, South Africa: Portugal's Ricardo Santos carded a flawless 62 to set a daunting target in the first round of the Africa Open in East London.
Santos, who was The Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2012 after winning his first title on home soil in the Madeira Islands Open, fired nine birdies and no bogeys to finish nine under par, two ahead of Garth Mulroy, Rhys Davies, Lucas Bjerregaard and Richard Bland.
The 31 year old Santos has finished in the top 30 in his last five events in South Africa, including a top-ten finish here last year, and hopes the joint lowest score of his European Tour career will again lead to victory.
“I played really solidly today and gave myself a lot of chances for birdie, and I took a lot of those chances,” said Santos. “I’m very pleased to make a run like I did today.
“I hit the ball solidly from the tee and my putting was all good. To shoot minus nine you have to play awesome golf, so I’m really pleased with every piece of my game.
“If the wind blows this is a very tough course, but today if you put the ball in the fairway you had the chance to shoot a low round.
“I made nine under in Madeira to win the event, but I shot 63 there, because the par was 72. Today was definitely one of my best rounds of golf so far.
“I put the ball very close, didn’t miss a fairway, and that’s the key on this course.”
Mulroy was leading the South African contingent out to maintain their remarkable dominance of events on home soil.
George Coetzee's victory in the Joburg Open on Sunday means nine of the last 12 European Tour events staged in South Africa have been won by home players, with all four previous Africa Opens won by South Africans.
Mulroy carded six birdies, an eagle and one bogey to finish seven under par, while Davies recovered from a bogey on the first to fire eight birdies in his last 16 holes.
Bland produced a flawless round containing an eagle on the third and five birdies in a back nine of 30 as the players took advantage of the calm conditions on a course measuring just 6,632 yards.
That is extremely short by modern standards and with no wind blowing in from the adjacent Indian Ocean, a repeat of the winning total of 27 under recorded by former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen in 2012 was on the cards.
"It's always nice to start the week this way," Mulroy said after his round. "Usually we don't get weather like this here, but I'm not complaining. The scores are definitely out there, you've just got to make some putts.
"I am pleased to be up there. I played okay on my first nine, but only turned one under. On the second nine I made a few putts and got it going.
"I think that on the front side of the course there are a few short par fours and with good shots you can make some easy birdies."
Davies won in Morocco in 2010 but has struggled to reproduce that form recently and lost his card at the end of 2012, narrowly missing out on regaining it via last season’s Challenge Tour.
The Welshman said: "I haven't had the greatest form over the last couple of years, so it's really nice to have a good round under my belt.
"It was a lovely start this morning, I enjoyed it, and I'll try to do the same again tomorrow."
Two of the four Americans to come through Qualifying School, John Hahn and Brinson Paolini, were part of the group on six under, along with last year’s runner-up Grégory Bourdy, who holed out from a bunker on the final hole of his 65.
