Jordan Smith signed for a bogey-free, 7-under 63 on Thursday to take a share of the lead at the Joburg Open.
Smith withdrew from the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February and has not made a start since.
“It was just nice to finally get a round under our belts after an unfortunate last couple of weeks,” said the Englishman.
“But yeah, just really nice. Like I say we haven’t really played much golf the last couple of weeks due to a few injuries but I’m really happy.
“It’d be great to go obviously the four days and hopefully get the win.”
China’s Wenyi Ding also stayed bogey-free for his share of the lead in South Africa. Ding is playing in his rookie season after earning a DP World Tour card as the inaugural winner of the Global Amateur Pathway ranking last year.
“I played pretty well today. Some short irons gave me a lot of birdie chances and I made a lot of putts,” said Ding.
England’s Callum Tarren and Marco Penge are tied in second place at 6-under alongside South Africans Jayden Schaper and Malcolm Mitchell as well as Germany’s Nicolai von Dellingshausen.
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SMITH, Jordan | -7 | 63 |
| | DING, Wenyi | -7 | 63 |
| 3 | TARREN, Callum | -6 | 64 |
| | SCHAPER, Jayden | -6 | 64 |
| | PENGE, Marco | -6 | 64 |
| | MITCHELL, Malcolm | -6 | 64 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | -6 | 64 |
| 8 | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | -5 | 65 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | -5 | 65 |
| | NIENABER, Wilco | -5 | 65 |
| FRITTELLI, Dylan | -5 | 65 | |
| | GREEN, Gavin | -5 | 65 |
| | SADDIER, Adrien | -5 | 65 |
| | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | -5 | 65 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | -5 | 65 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | -5 | 65 |
| 17 | AHLERS, Jaco | -4 | 66 |
| | SHARMA, Shubhankar | -4 | 66 |
| | LIST, Danny | -4 | 66 |
| | WEST, Rhys | -4 | 66 |
| | VINCENT, Kieran | -4 | 66 |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | -4 | 66 |
| | LUITEN, Joost | -4 | 66 |
| | SYME, Connor | -4 | 66 |
| | OTTO, Hennie | -4 | 66 |
| 26 | THIMBA JNR, Toto | -3 | 67 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | -3 | 67 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | -3 | 67 |
| | ALBERTSE, Louis | -3 | 67 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | -3 | 67 |
| | VAN ZYL, Jaco | -3 | 67 |
| | COETZEE, George | -3 | 67 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | -3 | 67 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | -3 | 67 |
| | VAN TONDER, Daniel | -3 | 67 |
| | STONE, Brandon | -3 | 67 |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | -3 | 67 |
| | STEINLECHNER, Maximilian | -3 | 67 |
| 39 | BROWN, Daniel | -2 | 68 |
| | RAMA, Nikhil | -2 | 68 |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | -2 | 68 |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | -2 | 68 |
| | PULKKANEN, Tapio | -2 | 68 |
| | BREMNER, Merrick | -2 | 68 |
| | DUMINY, Jordan | -2 | 68 |
| | ÅKESSON, Björn | -2 | 68 |
| | MANCHEST, Franklin | -2 | 68 |
| | HOLLICK, Michael | -2 | 68 |
| | KIMSEY, Nathan | -2 | 68 |
| | FISHER, Ross | -2 | 68 |
| ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | -2 | 68 | |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | -2 | 68 |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | -2 | 68 |
| 54 | VORSTER, Martin | -1 | 69 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | -1 | 69 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | -1 | 69 |
| | MOOLMAN, Pieter | -1 | 69 |
| | ROHWER, Martin | -1 | 69 |
| | BROWN, Luke | -1 | 69 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | -1 | 69 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | -1 | 69 |
| | STERNE, Richard | -1 | 69 |
| | HILL, Calum | -1 | 69 |
| | BARKER, Kyle | -1 | 69 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | -1 | 69 |
| | ENOCH, Rhys | -1 | 69 |
| | BEKKER, Oliver | -1 | 69 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | -1 | 69 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | -1 | 69 |
| | FOLLETT-SMITH, Benjamin | -1 | 69 |
| | BRUN, Julien | -1 | 69 |
| | PEPLER, Gerhard | -1 | 69 |
| 73 | MCCLATCHIE, Kyle | Par | 70 |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | Par | 70 |
| | PINEAU, Pierre | Par | 70 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | Par | 70 |
| | BLAAUW, Jacques | Par | 70 |
| | BRUINERS, Heinrich | Par | 70 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | Par | 70 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | Par | 70 |
| | DE VILLIERS, Jacques P | Par | 70 |
| | SPACEY, Matthew | Par | 70 |
| | WYKES, Kayle | Par | 70 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | Par | 70 |
| | SIEM, Marcel | Par | 70 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | Par | 70 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | Par | 70 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | Par | 70 |
| | SCHOTT, Freddy | Par | 70 |
| | AIKEN, Thomas | Par | 70 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | Par | 70 |
| | VILJOEN, MJ | Par | 70 |
| | NETHUNZWI, Musiwalo | Par | 70 |
| 94 | VEERMAN, Johannes | +1 | 71 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | +1 | 71 |
| | HUGO, Jean | +1 | 71 |
| | LOMBARD, Zander | +1 | 71 |
| | VAN DER MERWE, Graham | +1 | 71 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +1 | 71 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | +1 | 71 |
| MAZIBUKO, Makhetha | +1 | 71 | |
| | FICHARDT, Darren | +1 | 71 |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | +1 | 71 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | +1 | 71 |
| | SOUTHGATE, Matthew | +1 | 71 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | +1 | 71 |
| | KAMINSKI, Rupert | +1 | 71 |
| | DU PLESSIS, CJ | +1 | 71 |
| | SWART, Stals | +1 | 71 |
| | JERLING, Luke | +1 | 71 |
| | PEDRO, Lyle | +1 | 71 |
| | SMITH, Ethan | +1 | 71 |
| 113 | MAHONEY, Trevor | +2 | 72 |
| | BROOMHEAD, Jonathan | +2 | 72 |
| | PREMLALL, Yurav | +2 | 72 |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | +2 | 72 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | +2 | 72 |
| | MASHEGO, Jastice | +2 | 72 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | +2 | 72 |
| | FISHER JNR, Trevor | +2 | 72 |
| | PARRY, John | +2 | 72 |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | +2 | 72 |
| | REBULA, Jovan | +2 | 72 |
| | MOSTERT, Dylan | +2 | 72 |
| | CHINHOI, Robson | +2 | 72 |
| | REDMAN, Jake | +2 | 72 |
| 127 | BALDWIN, Matthew | +3 | 73 |
| | SMIT, Combrinck | +3 | 73 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | +3 | 73 |
| | KORB, Ruan | +3 | 73 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | +3 | 73 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | +3 | 73 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | +3 | 73 |
| | DE JAGER, Louis | +3 | 73 |
| | GRIFFITHS, Hayden | +3 | 73 |
| | PORTEOUS, Haydn | +3 | 73 |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | +3 | 73 |
| 138 | SCHIETEKAT, Neil | +4 | 74 |
| | RAVETTO, David | +4 | 74 |
| | RITCHIE, JC | +4 | 74 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | +4 | 74 |
| | KARMIS, Peter | +4 | 74 |
| 143 | VENTER, Albert | +5 | 75 |
| | SENEKAL, JJ | +5 | 75 |
| | SHAUN, Corey | +5 | 75 |
| | DAVIDSE, Keenan | +5 | 75 |
| 147 | VERSTER, Ivan (AM) | +6 | 76 |
| | HORNE, Keith | +6 | 76 |
| | VAN NIEKERK, Danie | +6 | 76 |
| | ROWE, Lyle | +6 | 76 |
| | CONRADIE, Ruan | +6 | 76 |
| 152 | MICHAEL, Anthony | +7 | 77 |
| | VAN WYK, Keelan | +7 | 77 |
| 154 | WEARS-TAYLOR, Stefan | +8 | 78 |
| 155 | GALANT, Tristin | +11 | 81 |
| 156 | FERREIRA, Stephen | +13 | 83 |
Simon Bale
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