Barker opens with 63 to lead
Fortress Invitational
Kyle Barker. (Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)
EDENVALE, Gauteng – Kyle Barker has been trying to hone his game in preparation for the DP World Tour Qualifying School at the end of this month in Spain, and the 26-year-old fired an exceptional 63 in the opening round of the Fortress Invitational at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday to fill him with confidence.
The Serengeti Estates golfer enjoys a one-stroke lead in the R2 million event, after Werner Deyzel and defending champion Robin Williams pushed him hard with 64s.
Barker’s nine-under-par score, which was also bogey-free, was his best round of the season and it seems he could be peaking at the right time after a solid but unspectacular start to the campaign sees him sitting in 18th position on the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.
“I had a great first couple of months but then things just slowed down. I was struggling a bit with my game and the set-up in my bag. But now I’ve found a really nice putter that is rolling the ball fantastically.
“This is my last event before going to the DP World Tour Qualifying School and I really enjoyed the day. I was hitting the ball really nicely on the range in my warm-up and I just wanted to keep that feeling going, so birdies on the first two holes was a great way to start. I didn’t know that I was going to make only 26 putts though!
“The greens were very receptive after the rain on Tuesday night, and long-irons were pretty much stopping where they landed and wayward tee-shots would not bounce into too much trouble under trees. So I could be quite aggressive, but the back nine was a bit tougher because the wind picked up,” Barker said.
The highlight of a round that was just the right therapy for Barker was his eagle on the par-five 11th.
“I smashed a drive down the middle and I had 196 metres to the front left, but the wind was slightly in my face, about seven or eight metres. So I hit a 205-metre shot with a six-iron, it was a bit long, in the middle of the green, but I had a downhill, 30-foot putt which went straight in the middle of the hole, which was really cool,” Barker explained.
Deyzel and Williams also had eagles in the first round, both of them on the 500-metre par-five sixth. Williams hit a brilliant seven-iron from 165 metres to three feet, which put him level with Barker on nine-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three eighth, his penultimate hole.
Williams continued the momentum from his brilliant fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship earlier this month and he was satisfied that he had positioned himself well in his first defence of a title in his professional career.
“It’s been really cool today. It’s the first time I’ve defended and I’m just remembering all the good memories from last year. It all kicked off for me here last year. Playing in Europe was good, but it is so tough there because everything is so different.
“My game was really good today, everything was solid, just a bit of a mistake on eight. But I kept the ball on the fairways. It’s just a course I really enjoy, the par-fives are not that long, so I picture them as par-fours and try to be more aggressive, as long as you find the fairway. I drove well and was able to take advantage of the par-fives.
“I will definitely take that first round. I just want to put myself in a position to defend on the back nine on Sunday,” Williams said.
SCORES:
63 – Kyle Barker
64 – Werner Deyzel, Robin Williams
65 – Jean Hugo, Brandon Gildenhuys, Altin van der Merwe
66 – Jovan Rebula, Keenan Davidse, Keegan Mclachlan, Kyle De Beer, Nikhil Rama
67 – Herman Loubser, Pieter Moolman, Michael Hollick, Daniel van Tonder
68 – Madalitso Muthiya, Christiaan Burke, Yurav Premlall, Wynand Dingle, Andre De Decker
69 – Matthew Spacey, Christiaan Basson, Pierre Pellegrin, Luke Jerling, Hennie Otto, Tyran Snyders, Ryan Van der Klis, Jake Redman, Heinrich Bruiners, MJ Viljoen, Conner Mackenzie, Jordan Burnand
70 – Craig Ross, Samuel Simpson, Jaco Van Zyl, Ruan Groenewald, Austin Bautista, Jack Hawksby, Lyle Rowe, LB Boshoff, Luke Brown, Fredrik From, Neil Schietekat, Trevor Fisher Jnr, DK Kim
71 – Dylan Naidoo, Rhys West, Stuart Krog, Simon du Plooy, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Stephen Ferreira, Ryan Tipping, Shaahid Mahmed, Gerhard Pepler, Otto Van Buynder, CJ du Plessis, Damian da Silva
72 – Franklin Manchest, Albert Venter, Ockie Strydom, Combrinck Smit, Gregory Mckay, Graham van der Merwe, Malcolm Mitchell, Dayne Moore, Slenda Sithebe, David Amm, Ronald Rugumayo, Adam Breen, Jean-Paul Strydom, Robson Chinhoi, Ethan Smith, Hennie O’Kennedy, Anthony Michael
73 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Jabulane Mabilane, Jacob Oakley, Toto Thimba Jnr, Jacques P de Villiers, Joe Long, Jason Roets, Travis Ladner, Sean Bradley, Jaco Prinsloo, Gary Kemp, Kirby Coe-Kirkham, James Pennington, Keelan van Wyk, Kyle McClatchie, Nick Cunningham, Rupert Kaminski, Jonathan Broomhead, Jacques Blaauw, James Mack, Promise Sombreiro, Mark Maart
74 – Allister de Kock, Haydn Porteous, Ruan de Smidt, Danie Van Niekerk, Alex Haindl, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu, Makhetha Mazibuko, Estiaan Conradie, Ruan Conradie, Tristin Galant, Dylan Mostert, Rourke van der Spuy, Keagan Thomas
75 – Bradford Vaughan, Khanya Mkhize, Doug McGuigan, Therion Nel, JJ Senekal, Stals Swart, Callum Mowat, Thabiso Ngcobo, Gerard du Plooy, Basil Wright Jr, Brandon Meads, Kayle Wykes, Christopher Long
76 – Tumelo Molloyi, Terence Boardman, Lyle Pedro, Ulrich van den Berg, Keith Horne, Christian Kriek, Vaughn van Deventer, Thabang Simon, Jastice Mashego, Umar Davids, Jordan Duminy, Oliver Bekker, Andrew Williamson
77 – Jared Burnard, Quintin Wilsnach, Irvin Mazibuko, Hayden Griffiths, Jared Harvey
78 – Steven Le Roux, Regan Steyn, Leon Vorster, Sean Cronje, Siyanda Mwandla, Richard Kruger
79 – Brandon Pieters, Ricky Hendler, Sentanio Minnie, Merrick Bremner
81 – Shaydon Johnson
85 – Pride Sembo
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