England’s Andy Sullivan in lead after Alfred Dunhill Championship’s first round at Leopard Creek

On a sweltering Thursday, December 12, at Leopard Creek, England’s Andy Sullivan turned up the heat himself with a sublime round of eight-under-par 64 to earn himself a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

With temperatures in the 40°C, Sullivan took advantage of a 07:00 tee-off time off the 10th and didn’t drop a single shot as he set the pace in this Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament.

“It’s so important to get off to a good start at Leopard Creek, because you just know it’s going to get tougher and tougher. It generally doesn’t get easier here. So getting off to a good start is nice. It gives you that little bit of a buffer, because you know you’re in for a serious grind over the next couple of
days,” said Sullivan, who always feels at home on these fairways and draws heavily on his memories of winning his first two DP World Tour titles in South Africa in 2015.

“I always feel comfortable here and generally play good golf. My putting was really good today and saved me a couple of times. I feel like the greens suit me, so I’ve just got to keep the long game going. I’ve been able to put a lot more practice time in this week and the swing has felt good, so it was nice to get out on the course and it felt the same.”

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His nearest challengers are South Africa’s Casey Jarvis, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult.

Jarvis teed off on the 10th and was three over for his first two holes before he produced some incredible golf. His most impressive stretch was the three birdies and an eagle he made on holes five, six, seven and eight, with those last two holes in particular always a tricky challenge. “I got off to a tough start and then I just told myself, ‘C’mon, let’s do this now’, and I played lovely from there. I had three twos at holes five, six and seven, which is a first for me. I absolutely love this place. The golf course just suits my game and I’ve had a lot of success here as an amateur, so when I get here I just try and play the game I did back then and it seemed to work,” Jarvis said.

Former champion Brandon Stone ended the first day just three strokes off the lead. Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen did well to post a one-under-par 71, despite an eight on the par-five 18th. Charl Schwartzel, a four-time winner here, also opened with a 71, while Dean Burmester started his
championship with a three-under-par 69.

The Lowveld’s Thriston Lawrence shot a three-over 75 and is in danger of missing the cut.

Scores:
• 64 – Andy Sullivan
• 65 – Casey Jarvis, Alex Fitzpatrick, Marcus Kinhult
• 67 – Darius van Driel, Nathan Kimsey, Shaun Norris, John Parry, Brandon Stone, Andrea Pavan
• 68 – Julien Guerrier, Ryggs Johnston, Kristoffer Reitan, Matti Schmid, Nikhil Rama, Wenyi Ding, Romain Langasque, Nacho Elvira
• 69 – Keenan Davidse, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Tom McKibbin, Dean Burmester, Ugo Coussaud, Dale Whitnell
• 70 – Matthew Baldwin, Wilco Nienaber, Frederic Lacroix, Ryan van Velzen, Dan Bradbury, Heinrich Bruiners, Matthew Southgate, Jens Dantorp, Pieter Moolman, Ulrich van den Berg, Kieron van Wyk
• 71 – Robson Chinhoi, Joe Dean, Jonathan Broomhead, Louis Oosthuizen, Daniel van Tonder, Ángel Ayora, Oliver Bekker, Jack Senior, Richard Sterne, Gavin Green, Jorge Campillo, Joost Luiten, Charl Schwartzel, Scott Jamieson, Laurie Canter, Rupert Kaminski, Ockie Strydom, JC Ritchie, Adrián Otaegui, Aaron Cockerill, Oliver Lindell, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Marcel Schneider, Altin van der Merwe, Martin Couvra, Brandon Gildenhuys
• 72 – Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, Erik van Rooyen, Aldrich Potgieter, Richard Mansell, Sean Crocker, Darren Fichardt, Justin Walters, Jaco van Zyl, Lucas Bjerregaard, Kyle McClatchie, Joel Moscatel, Ruan Conradie, Dylan Frittelli, Manuel Elvira, Deon Germishuys, Connor Syme, George Coetzee, Jean Hugo, Makhetha Mazibuko
• 73 – Yurav Premlall, Louis Albertse, Matthew Spacey, CJ du Plessis, Gregor Graham, Christiaan Maas, Lyle Rowe, Jovan Rebula, Neil Schietekat, JJ Senekal, Simon Forsström, Malcolm Mitchell, Pablo Larrazábal, MJ Viljoen, Francesco Laporta, Jacques Blaauw, Benjamin Hébert, Louis de Jager
• 74 – Rhys Enoch, Daniel Bennett, Jayden Schaper, Jeong-Weon Ko, Björn Åkesson, Thomas Aiken, Joakim Lagergren, Luke Jerling, Albert Venter, Mikael Lindberg, Herman Loubser, Álvaro Quirós, Alexander Levy, Sam Bairstow, Pierre Pineau, Michael Hollick, David Ravetto, Hennie Otto, Dylan Mostert, Kyle de Beer, Keelan van Wyk, Jaco Prinsloo
• 75 – Martin Rohwer, Combrinck Smit, Gerard du Plooy, Jacques P de Villiers, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence, Keith Horne, Hamish Brown, Conor Purcell, Jaco Ahlers, Wynand Dingle, Jordan Burnand, Steven le Roux
• 76 – Bernd Wiesberger, Ruan Korb, Sentanio Minnie, Robin Williams, Dylan Naidoo, Peter Karmis, Jordan Gumberg, Joel Girrbach
• 77 – Jacquin Hess, Franklin Manchest, Brandon Robinson Thompson
• 78 – Astin Arthur
• 79 – Nicolas Colsaerts
• 80 – Gerhard Pepler, Musiwalo Nethunzwi
• 81 – Eddie Pepperell, Jordan Duminy, Kyle Barker, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Ross Fisher
• 82 – Gregory Mckay, Christopher Long
• Retired – Calum Hill.