HARARE – Local golfer Greg Bentley had a bad day on the course in the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf presented by Samsung Wild Coast yester in KwaZulu Natal.
The Zimbabwean had a nightmare first round after carding a nine-over 79 that leaves him highly unlikely to make the cut to play all the 54 holes of the tournament.
Bentley has been drawn to play the second round with South Africans JG Claassen and Divan van den Heever. The trio tees off early this morning at 6:40am.
Yesterday, Bentley made par at the first two holes before going on to make three straight bogeys from the third to the fifth.
Bentley regained his composure when he shot a birdie at the par-5 number 7 but was once again off the rails when he dropped another shot at the next hole.
This left the Zimbabwean three-over par at the end of the outward nine.
Bentley’s failed to recover in the inward nine where he picked further bogeys on number 11 and 15 before going onto complete his round with two double bogeys on the 16th and last holes.
While Bentley struggled with his swing at Wild Coast, it was not the similar case for Botswana’s, Stuart Smith, who finished the first round in second place on the leaderboard.
The Botswana national fired an opening round 67 and was four strokes behind Louis de Jager of South Africa, who carded an impressive 63 for the clubhouse lead.
“There are days when you play well and don’t score, but today I managed to pull it off. I’m in a good position and really enjoying this. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to having a go,” Smith told the sunshine Tour website after his round.
Smith had to compete in Tuesday’s pre-qualifier as one of 46 players looking for one of the 15 qualifying places that were available and carded 71.
“On the front nine there was very little wind and I had to take advantage and make as many birdies as I could. With this wind it’s quite a struggle and anything under par is a good score in these conditions. I think I did a great job today,” he said.