Joakim Lagergren carded a bogey-free 7-under par 65 at the Blair Atholl Golf & Equestrian Estate to take a one-shot lead at the Investec South African Open Championship.
The Swede suferred an ankle injury in the summer and finished 170th in the Race to Dubai leading to a sixth visit to Q School where he was unsuccessful at regaining his Tour card. He is playing the Opening Swing on a medical exemption and Thursday’s round was his lowest since March.
“Golf was fun today. It is a tough course, it’s long so to shoot seven under around here, I’m very pleased with that.
“We had a par-three today which [was] 240 metres, I’m not sure if I’ve experienced that before. It is long, you very rarely get wedges into par fours.
“If you’re playing well, you’re going to hit a lot of greens so it’s pretty good to have control with the putter. Lag putting is going to play a huge part this week when you’re going to hit a lot of greens but be maybe 20 metres way. I did that well today.
“It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve been in contention so I’m looking forward to it.”
Blair Atholl is the longest course in DP World Tour history and features five par-5s, four of which are over 600 yards.
South Africa’s Casey Jarvis signed for a 66 to take solo second place one ahead of compatriots Louis de Jager and Javan Rebula as well as Englnd’s Andy Sullivan.
Related: Cam Davis takes opening lead in Australia
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LAGERGREN, Joakim | -7 | 65 |
| 2 | JARVIS, Casey | -6 | 66 |
| 3 | DE JAGER, Louis | -5 | 67 |
| | REBULA, Jovan | -5 | 67 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | -5 | 67 |
| 6 | RAVETTO, David | -4 | 68 |
| | SVENSSON, Jesper | -4 | 68 |
| | SMIT, Combrinck | -4 | 68 |
| | MANASSERO, Matteo | -4 | 68 |
| | ENEFER, Will | -4 | 68 |
| SCHWAB, Matthias | -4 | 68 | |
| | BRUINERS, Heinrich | -4 | 68 |
| | DU PLESSIS, Hennie | -4 | 68 |
| | RITCHIE, JC | -4 | 68 |
| | BEZUIDENHOUT, Christiaan | -4 | 68 |
| 16 | LAPORTA, Francesco | -3 | 69 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | -3 | 69 |
| | FRIEDRICHSEN, Sebastian | -3 | 69 |
| | SAMOOJA, Kalle | -3 | 69 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | -3 | 69 |
| | DE VILLIERS, Jacques P | -3 | 69 |
| | PARATORE, Renato | -3 | 69 |
| | ALBERTSE, Louis | -3 | 69 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | -3 | 69 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | -3 | 69 |
| LACROIX, Frederic | -3 | 69 | |
| 27 | BRADLEY, Sean | -2 | 70 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | -2 | 70 |
| | JOHANNESSEN, Kristian Krogh | -2 | 70 |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | -2 | 70 |
| | ROWE, Lyle | -2 | 70 |
| | DAVIDSON, Jack | -2 | 70 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | -2 | 70 |
| | AHLERS, Jaco | -2 | 70 |
| | SCHMID, Matti | -2 | 70 |
| | FICHARDT, Darren | -2 | 70 |
| | SCHAPER, Jayden | -2 | 70 |
| | BURMESTER, Dean | -2 | 70 |
| | LAWRENCE, Thriston | -2 | 70 |
| 40 | BAWDEN, Bradley | -1 | 71 |
| | SADDIER, Adrien | -1 | 71 |
| | KOFSTAD, Espen | -1 | 71 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | -1 | 71 |
| | BARKER, Kyle | -1 | 71 |
| | MORRISON, James | -1 | 71 |
| | FISHER, Ross | -1 | 71 |
| | FOLLETT-SMITH, Benjamin | -1 | 71 |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | -1 | 71 |
| | SCHIETEKAT, Neil | -1 | 71 |
| | ERICKSON, Dan | -1 | 71 |
| REDMAN, Jake | -1 | 71 | |
| | DINGLE, Wynand | -1 | 71 |
| | STRYDOM, Tristen | -1 | 71 |
| | VAN ZYL, Jaco | -1 | 71 |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | -1 | 71 |
| | VAN TONDER, Daniel | -1 | 71 |
| | BEKKER, Oliver | -1 | 71 |
| | SMITH, Ethan | -1 | 71 |
| | VAN NIEKERK, Danie | -1 | 71 |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | -1 | 71 |
| 61 | VAN DER MERWE, Altin (AM) | Par | 72 |
| | BENNETT, Daniel (AM) | Par | 72 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | Par | 72 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | Par | 72 |
| | GREEN, Gavin | Par | 72 |
| | VAN DER SPUY, Rourke | Par | 72 |
| | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | Par | 72 |
| | SOUTHGATE, Matthew | Par | 72 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | Par | 72 |
| | SCHWARTZEL, Charl | Par | 72 |
| | KAMINSKI, Rupert | Par | 72 |
| | NIENABER, Wilco | Par | 72 |
| | EPSON, Hunter | Par | 72 |
| | CELLI, Filippo | Par | 72 |
| | MICHAEL, Anthony | Par | 72 |
| | LAW, David | Par | 72 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | Par | 72 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | Par | 72 |
| | ROHWER, Martin | Par | 72 |
| | KARLSSON, Anton | Par | 72 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | Par | 72 |
| | KORB, Ruan | Par | 72 |
| | FRITTELLI, Dylan | Par | 72 |
| | SCALISE, Lorenzo | Par | 72 |
| 85 | ROTTLUFF, Maximilian | +1 | 73 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | +1 | 73 |
| | VILJOEN, MJ | +1 | 73 |
| | FILIPPI, Luca | +1 | 73 |
| | RUSCH, Benjamin | +1 | 73 |
| | HANNA, Chase | +1 | 73 |
| | HUGO, Jean | +1 | 73 |
| | MAAS, Christian (AM) | +1 | 73 |
| | RAMA, Nikhil | +1 | 73 |
| | MOOLMAN, Pieter | +1 | 73 |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +1 | 73 |
| | OTTO, Hennie | +1 | 73 |
| | WILSON, Oliver | +1 | 73 |
| 98 | BOSHOFF, William Louis | +2 | 74 |
| | GOUNDEN, Aneurin | +2 | 74 |
| | VAN WYK, Keelan | +2 | 74 |
| SORDET, Clément | +2 | 74 | |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | +2 | 74 |
| | O'KENNEDY, Hennie | +2 | 74 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | +2 | 74 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | +2 | 74 |
| | SIMON, Thabang | +2 | 74 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | +2 | 74 |
| | WU, Ashun | +2 | 74 |
| | MOSTERT, Dylan | +2 | 74 |
| | VORSTER, Martin | +2 | 74 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | +2 | 74 |
| 112 | GIRRBACH, Joel | +3 | 75 |
| | WEARS-TAYLOR, Stefan | +3 | 75 |
| | PENGE, Marco | +3 | 75 |
| | PEPLER, Gerhard | +3 | 75 |
| | STONE, Brandon | +3 | 75 |
| | KARMIS, Peter | +3 | 75 |
| | VENTER, Albert | +3 | 75 |
| | BACHEM, Nick | +3 | 75 |
| | DAVIDSE, Keenan | +3 | 75 |
| | FISHER JNR, Trevor | +3 | 75 |
| | BESARD, Matthis | +3 | 75 |
| | KNAPPE, Alexander | +3 | 75 |
| | MITCHELL, Malcolm | +3 | 75 |
| | TARRIO, Santiago | +3 | 75 |
| 126 | CROSBIE, Keagan (AM) | +4 | 76 |
| | HANSEN, Joachim B | +4 | 76 |
| | GARCIA, Sebastian | +4 | 76 |
| | SIMPSON, Samuel | +4 | 76 |
| | PREMLALL, Yurav | +4 | 76 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +4 | 76 |
| | MANLEY, Stuart | +4 | 76 |
| | MOLINARI, Edoardo | +4 | 76 |
| | LAMPRECHT, Christo (AM) | +4 | 76 |
| | AMM, David Rowland Montague | +4 | 76 |
| 136 | THIMBA JNR, Toto | +5 | 77 |
| | JOHNSTON, Andrew | +5 | 77 |
| | BLOMME, Adam | +5 | 77 |
| | GRADECKI, Mateusz | +5 | 77 |
| | GALLACHER, Stephen | +5 | 77 |
| | PRINSLOO, Jaco | +5 | 77 |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | +5 | 77 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | +5 | 77 |
| | BLAAUW, Jacques | +5 | 77 |
| 145 | VERSTER, Ivan (AM) | +6 | 78 |
| | SPACEY, Matthew | +6 | 78 |
| | CHINHOI, Robson | +6 | 78 |
| | THOMAS, Keagan | +6 | 78 |
| 149 | BASSON, Christiaan | +7 | 79 |
| | DU PREEZ, James Hart | +7 | 79 |
| | DU PLOOY, Henning | +7 | 79 |
| 152 | GALANT, Tristin | +8 | 80 |
| | BURNAND, Jordan (AM) | +8 | 80 |
| 154 | BREMNER, Merrick | +9 | 81 |
| 155 | SITHEBE, Slenda | +11 | 83 |
| RETD | BROWN, Daniel | +3 | - |
Simon Bale
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