Dan Bradbury on fire as he takes first round lead of weather-hit Joburg Open

Dan Bradbury burned up the Houghton Golf Club layout as he fired two eagles in the space of three holes and knocked in seven more birdies to take the first-round lead of the Joburg Open on Thursday. 

A double drop on the par-four 15th, his sixth hole, and a bogey four on his final green saw him card an eight-under-par 63, one shot ahead of German Nick Bachem. 

Both men are 23 years old and they decided to take advantage of the extra distance offered by the altitude, using the heavy artillery at every opportunity. 

It paid off, though both had to get used to the new yardages.

Bradbury, who was only invited to play in the tournament on Friday, hit good drives for his two eagles, on the third and fifth holes.

“Both those par-fives I was having 180 [yards] and 188 in and hitting nine iron. It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Bachem looked like a kid in a candy store as he feasted on the extra distance on offer, enthusing that he hammered one drive 360m in Wednesday’s practice round. 

“I had so much fun,” said Bachem, who had woken up with a sore neck. “The practice rounds were a little confusing sometimes, standing there and I couldn’t believe the numbers I’m hitting with my shots, with my irons especially. The ball’s flying forever.”

That determined his strategy. “I tried to drive everywhere. I’ve got nothing to lose ... I just said to myself, ‘hit driver and get as close as possible to the green’ and I thought I’m definitely going to make more bogeys, but I was sure I was going to make a lot of birdies as well. 

“So it was kind of fun making a lot of birdies and not too many bogeys,” added Bachem, who shot eight birdies in total, four on each nine, as well as a single drop on the par-four second for his 64. 

Bradbury realised the course was open to low scores. 

“I looked at the leader board [before teeing off at 11.30am] and I’m seeing guys six under through six and everyone’s three under through four, so I knew there were birdies out there,” said the Englishman, who spent four years playing collegiate golf in the US.

He was eight under through 15 when the players were called off briefly because of a lightning threat. 

A birdie three on the 17th took him to nine under before his bogey on the last hole.  

“I think the thunderstorm stopped my momentum and made me think about it [being in the lead] a little bit. I probably wasn’t thinking about it before that. After that it was in the back of my head, definitely, especially coming up the last.”

The storm returned a little later, forcing nearly 50 players to abandon their rounds for the day. 

Two Frenchmen were on six under, with Romain Langasque completing his round early and Clement Berardo only 11 holes down. 

Four men were five under, including the two top-placed South Africans, defending champion Thriston Lawrence and Jaco van Zyl. 

Last year weather played havoc with this tournament, which ended after just two rounds.