Golf - European Tour:Darren Clarke's lowest round in over ten years was not quite good enough to claim the lead after the opening round of the Joburg Open. Local favourite Neil Schietekat leads on nine-under, one ahead of a rejuvenated Clarke.
Clarke shot a 63, his lowest round since his European Tour record-equalling 60 in the 1999 European Open at the K Club, is joined on eight under by last week’s Africa Open winner Charl Schwartzel, Jbe’ Kruger, David Lynn and Simon Khan.
“I hit it close a lot of times, and the only putt I really holed was on 17 from about 20 feet,” said Clarke of his round.
With play alternating between the East and West courses at Royal Johannesburg, the players clearly favoured the latter with all of the leaders opening on that layout. Barry Lane’s 65 the best score on offer on the longer East Course.
The tournament co-sanctioned by the European Tour and South African Sunshine Tour will be played solely on the East on the last two days.
Schietekat's nine-birdie round would have broken the West Course record by one shot but for the fact placing was allowed on the wet fairways.
"I made a lot of putts today," said the 25-year-old who is still looking for his first win since joining the Sunshine Tour in 2006.
"You know when you think you've hit a good approach shot but you'd take par? Well, all of a sudden, I've got a great line (on my putts), great pace, great everything and it goes in the middle of the hole."
European money-list leader Schwartzel could have held the outright lead himself but for a double-bogey six at the 12th.
"I had made seven birdies in a row and pretty much felt unstoppable and then got a little bit greedy with my first putt (on 12)," he said.
"I left myself about two and a half feet down the hill and all of a sudden I had four-putted."
Collated first round scores in the European Tour Joburg Open, Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC
(Irish & Gbr unless stated, Irishin bold, par 71)
West Course
62Neil Schietekat (Rsa)
63Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Jbe Kruger (Rsa), David Lynn, Darren Clarke,Simon Khan
64Alastair Forsyth
65Andrew McArthur, Matthew Zions (Aus), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg)
66Carl Suneson (Spa), Henrik Nystrom (Swe), John Parry, Joost Luiten (Ned), Soren Hansen (Den), Paul Broadhurst, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)
67Desvonde Botes (Rsa), Neil Cheetham, Hennie Otto (Rsa), Jaco Ahlers (Rsa), Peter Baker, Marcel Siem (Ger), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa), Richard Sterne (Rsa), Deane Pappas (Rsa)
68Jacques Blaauw (Rsa), Anton Haig (Rsa), Josh Cunliffe (Rsa), David Horsey, Richard McEvoy, Doug McGuigan, Jake Roos (Rsa), Andrew Curlewis (Rsa), Jamie McLeary, Robert Rock, Gary Boyd, Ross Wellington (Rsa), Ariel Canete (Arg), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Michael Hoey
69Paulo Pinto (Arg), Tyrone Mordt (Rsa), Roope Kakko (Fin), Sion Bebb, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Paul Waring, Julien Guerrier (Fra), Carlos Rodiles (Spa), Kenneth Ferrie, George Coetzee (Rsa), James Morrison, Oliver Fisher, Scott Hend (Aus), Matthew Carvell (Rsa), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)
70Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Charlie Ford, Scott Drummond, Irvin Mazibuko (Rsa), Marc Cayeux (Zim), Danny Lee (Nzl), Dion Fourie (Rsa), Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger), Thabang Simon (Rsa), Phillip Archer, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
71Prinavin Nelson (Rsa), Clinton Whitelaw (Rsa), Daniel Brunson (USA), Stuart Anderson (Can), Ryan Cairns (Zim), Dale Whitnell, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Alexandre Kaleka (Fra), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita), Martin Maritz (Rsa)
72Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Steve Basson (Rsa), Toto Thimba jnr (Rsa), Jean Hugo (Rsa), Michael Dreyer (Rsa), Bradford Vaughan (Rsa), Steven O'Hara, Albert Pistorius (Rsa), David Drysdale, Andre Bossert (Swi), Adrian Ford (Rsa), Daniel Greene (Rsa), Louis De Jager (Rsa), Charl Coetzee (Rsa)
73Merrick Bremner (Rsa), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Jake Redman (Rsa), Mohammed Tayob (Rsa)
74Darren Holder (Rsa), Cameron Johnston (Rsa), Omar Sandys (Rsa)
76Sipho Sithole (Rsa), Craig Liebenberg (USA)
77Alphuis Kelapile (Rsa)
79Emmanuel Masoliedze (Rsa)
East Course
65Danny Willett, Barry Lane
66Peter Whiteford, Adilson Da Silva (Bra), Alejandro Canizares (Spa)
67Reggie Adams (Rsa), Christiaan Basson (Rsa), Shaun Norris (Rsa), Branden Grace (Rsa), Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa), James Kamte (Rsa)
68Titch Moore (Rsa), Christian Ries (Rsa), Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa), TC Charamba (Zim), Paul Lawrie, Keith Horne (Rsa)
69Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Klas Eriksson (Swe), Julien Quesne (Fra), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Warren Abery (Rsa), David Dixon, Andrew Marshall, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa), Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa)
70Brandon Pieters (Rsa), Chris Wood, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Robert Dinwiddie, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Gary Lockerbie, Sam Hutsby, Michiel Bothma (Rsa), Callum Macaulay, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa), Oliver Bekker (Rsa), Mark f Haastrup (Den), Mark Murless (Rsa), Simon Thornton
71Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Alex Haindl (Rsa), Alan McLean, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Mark Brown (Nzl), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por), Jamie Elson, Theunis Spangenberg (Rsa), Grant Muller (Rsa), Justin Walters (Rsa), Benjamin Hebert (Fra), David Hewan (Rsa)
72Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Anders Hansen (Den), Benn Barham, Nic Henning (Rsa), Kevin Stone (Rsa), Des Terblanche (Rsa), Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa), Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe), Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa), Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Phillip Price, Lee Slattery, Louis Moolman (Rsa), Stephen Gallacher, Richard Finch, Ryan Tipping (Rsa), Niall Kearney,Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa)
73Andrew Tampion (Aus), James Kingston (Rsa), Brett Liddle (Rsa), David Howell, Ali Tsai (Tpe), Rhys Davies, Warrick Druian (Rsa), Gary Clark, Gary Murphy,Marco Ruiz (Par), Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa), Francois Calmels (Fra), Miles Tunnicliff
74Chris Gane, Eugen Marugi (Rsa), Andre Cruse (Rsa), Stuart Manley, Peter Lawrie,Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Byron Smith (USA), James Ruth, Sam Little
75Divan Van Den Heever (Rsa), Keenan Davidse (Rsa), Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa)
76Andrew Georgiou (Rsa), Rick Kulacz (Aus)
77Anthony Michael (Rsa), Dean Lambert (Rsa), Willie Van Der Merwe (Rsa), Markus Brier (Aut)
79Chris Williams (Rsa)
81Muswalo Nethunzwi (Rsa)