Richard Sterne fired a bogey-free, 5-under 67 and set a new course record at Trump International Golf Links to take the opening lead by one shot at the Nexo Championship.
“Very happy,” said the South African. “The course is very tricky even though the wind is not as bad as it was in the practice round on Tuesday and I played well. I hit the ball a lot better than have done for a while, so that was quite key.
“When I was here on Tuesday, it was about double this wind and I lost about seven or eight balls. I wasn’t off to the world’s best start, but it is a lot calmer than it was then. I think Tuesday did me a bit of good.
“There is a long way to go this week. One day at a time and I am happy with today, so it is a good start for me.”
Sterne’s last win on the DP World Tour was at the 2013 Joburg Open.
Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen fired an eagle at the par-4 7th as well as four birdies and two bogeys for a 68 and a share of second place alongside South Africans Thomas Aiken, who made an eagle at the par-5 10th, two birdies and one bogey, and Louis Albertse who stayed bogey-free
Related: FedEx St. Jude Championship 2025: Everything you need to know
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STERNE, Richard | -5 | 67 |
| 2 | HALVORSEN, Andreas | -4 | 68 |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | -4 | 68 |
| | ALBERTSE, Louis | -4 | 68 |
| 5 | PARRY, John | -3 | 69 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | -3 | 69 |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | -3 | 69 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | -3 | 69 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | -3 | 69 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | -3 | 69 |
| FITZPATRICK, Alex | -3 | 69 | |
| | DEAN, Joe | -3 | 69 |
| 13 | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | -2 | 70 |
| | TETAK, Tadeas | -2 | 70 |
| | HARDING, Justin | -2 | 70 |
| 16 | LUITEN, Joost | -1 | 71 |
| | AYORA, Angel | -1 | 71 |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | -1 | 71 |
| | YOUNG, Daniel | -1 | 71 |
| | FORREST, Grant | -1 | 71 |
| | DING, Wenyi | -1 | 71 |
| | LUMSDEN, Ryan | -1 | 71 |
| | MERRITT, Troy | -1 | 71 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | -1 | 71 |
| | CATLIN, John | -1 | 71 |
| MICHELUZZI, David | -1 | 71 | |
| 27 | SCHMIDT, Ben | Par | 72 |
| | SYME, Connor | Par | 72 |
| | SCHIETEKAT, Neil | Par | 72 |
| | KIMSEY, Nathan | Par | 72 |
| | CELLI, Filippo | Par | 72 |
| | NORDWALL, Viktor | Par | 72 |
| | BRYANT, Davis | Par | 72 |
| | HUIZING, Daan | Par | 72 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | Par | 72 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | Par | 72 |
| | LINDELL, Oliver | Par | 72 |
| | PEPPERELL, Eddie | Par | 72 |
| | WARREN, Marc | Par | 72 |
| | LAW, David | Par | 72 |
| | FRANCES, Alexander George | Par | 72 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | Par | 72 |
| 43 | PURCELL, Conor | +1 | 73 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | +1 | 73 |
| | PETERSSON, Robin | +1 | 73 |
| | ROTTLUFF, Maximilian | +1 | 73 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | +1 | 73 |
| | BONETA, Albert | +1 | 73 |
| | SMYLIE, Elvis | +1 | 73 |
| | KINHULT, Marcus | +1 | 73 |
| WILLIAMS, Robin | +1 | 73 | |
| | DANTORP, Jens | +1 | 73 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | +1 | 73 |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | +1 | 73 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | +1 | 73 |
| | KENNEDY, Frank | +1 | 73 |
| | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | +1 | 73 |
| | SORDET, Clément | +1 | 73 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | +1 | 73 |
| | SOUTHGATE, Matthew | +1 | 73 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | +1 | 73 |
| 62 | KOBORI, Kazuma | +2 | 74 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | +2 | 74 |
| | CHACARRA, Eugenio | +2 | 74 |
| | WILSON, Oliver | +2 | 74 |
| | BESARD, Matthis | +2 | 74 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | +2 | 74 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | +2 | 74 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | +2 | 74 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | +2 | 74 |
| | SETTEMSDAL, Alexander | +2 | 74 |
| | SIGEL, Ben | +2 | 74 |
| | BESSELING, Wil | +2 | - |
| | BRUN, Julien | +2 | - |
| | ERICKSON, Dan | +2 | - |
| | STEINLECHNER, Maximilian | +2 | - |
| 77 | JAMIESON, Scott | +3 | 75 |
| | BARNES, Erik | +3 | 75 |
| | BROWN, Daniel | +3 | 75 |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | +3 | 75 |
| | WU, Brandon | +3 | 75 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | +3 | 75 |
| | HUNT, Toby | +3 | 75 |
| | PENGE, Marco | +3 | 75 |
| | JACKSON, Palmer | +3 | 75 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | +3 | 75 |
| | SHAUN, Corey | +3 | 75 |
| | TRAINER, Martin | +3 | 75 |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +3 | 75 |
| | ERENO, Pablo | +3 | - |
| 91 | WILSON, Andrew | +4 | 76 |
| | ÅKESSON, Björn | +4 | 76 |
| | HEBERT, Benjamin | +4 | 76 |
| | WIEBE, Gunner | +4 | 76 |
| | WALTERS, Justin | +4 | 76 |
| | PARATORE, Renato | +4 | 76 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | +4 | 76 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | +4 | 76 |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | +4 | 76 |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | +4 | 76 |
| BROWN, Hamish | +4 | 76 | |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | +4 | 76 |
| | HILL, Calum | +4 | 76 |
| | KANG, Sung | +4 | 76 |
| | GARCIA, Sebastian | +4 | 76 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | +4 | 76 |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | +4 | 76 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | +4 | 76 |
| | WIESBERGER, Bernd | +4 | 76 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | +4 | 76 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | +4 | 76 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | +4 | 76 |
| | FRANSSEN, Rory | +4 | - |
| 114 | RUTHERFORD, Jamie | +5 | 77 |
| | TARRIO, Santiago | +5 | 77 |
| | PULKKANEN, Tapio | +5 | 77 |
| | SHINKWIN, Callum | +5 | 77 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | +5 | 77 |
| | ARMITAGE, Marcus | +5 | 77 |
| | LAIRD, Martin | +5 | 77 |
| | JIN, Zihao | +5 | 77 |
| | FISHER, Ross | +5 | 77 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | +5 | 77 |
| | RAVETTO, David | +5 | 77 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | +5 | 77 |
| | NIENABER, Wilco | +5 | 77 |
| | BLOMSTRAND, Christofer | +5 | 77 |
| | FREIBURGHAUS, Jeremy | +5 | 77 |
| | MORRISON, James | +5 | - |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | +5 | - |
| | AMAT, Bastien | +5 | - |
| 132 | TARREN, Callum | +6 | 78 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | +6 | 78 |
| | O'HARA, Paul | +6 | 78 |
| | FOLLETT-SMITH, Benjamin | +6 | 78 |
| | LIST, Danny | +6 | 78 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | +6 | 78 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | +6 | - |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | +6 | - |
| 140 | PINEAU, Pierre | +7 | 79 |
| | DE LEO, Gregorio | +7 | 79 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +7 | 79 |
| | WALKER, Euan | +7 | 79 |
| 144 | COLETTA, Brett | +8 | 80 |
| | HORSEY, David | +8 | - |
| 146 | ELVIRA, Nacho | +9 | 81 |
| | COETZEE, George | +9 | 81 |
| | HUTSBY, Sam | +9 | 81 |
| | BEKIRIAN, Jean | +9 | 81 |
| | KRISTENSEN, Nicolai | +9 | 81 |
| 151 | IWATA, Hiroshi | +10 | 82 |
| 152 | GALE, Daniel | +11 | 83 |
| | KIM, MK | +11 | 83 |
| | NEMECZ, Lukas | +11 | 83 |
| 155 | KO, Jeong weon | +12 | 84 |
| RETD | MOLINARI, Edoardo | +14 | - |
