Bairstow and From share lead after SA Open day 1 rescued from drowning

England’s Sam Bairstow and Sweden’s Fredrik From were delighted to be able to tee off their first rounds of the SA Open, never mind share the clubhouse lead by the end of the first day at Durban Country Club on Thursday.

It required a monumental effort by course maintenance staff and the eThekwini municipality to tackle a waterlogged golf course, after a deluge the day before, and work through the night for a remarkable transformation, with only a three-hour delay of the tee times.

Bairstow and From took full advantage and opened with rounds of seven-under-par 65 to lead. SA’s Darren Fichardt was also on seven under with four holes to play when darkness forced a suspension of play. The delayed start means the first round will have to be completed on Friday morning, with play scheduled to resume at 8am.

SA’s Jayden Schaper, Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, India’s Shubhankar Sharma, China’s Haotong Li and England’s Todd Clements all finished the day on six under.

“The day before I thought there would be no chance of playing, specially seeing the water on the 16th hole. But all credit to the maintenance staff for getting the course playable. They did an unbelievable job,” Bairstow said.

“I couldn’t believe it this morning when they didn’t call it off, to be honest. They must have worked the whole night pumping hundreds of thousands of litres of water. They did a great job,” said From.

The two players did well to drop only one shot in their rounds, while From added two eagles on the par-five third and 10th holes.

“I hit them both pretty close so it wasn’t too much work. My driver was working well and it’s the kind of golf course where a good driving game can give you opportunities,” said the man who plays under a Swedish flag but who feels at home in SA having spent so many years competing on the Sunshine Tour.

“It’s like I’m representing two flags here this week. For that reason it would be great to win,” he said.

Behind them, Ramsay has put himself in a strong position to claim a second SA Open title after his triumph in 2009.

Schaper has also made a strong claim on this title after a few close finishes in the past. He finished tied sixth while an amateur in the 2020 SA Open, and also had finishes of tied ninth in 2022 and tied fifth in 2023.

“I’ve got a lot of good memories in this tournament. It’s one that you want to do well in as our home Open, and this is a great venue for it this week,” Schaper said.

Bryan Newman and Christiaan Maas are the leading amateurs on one under par but yet to complete their first rounds.

Sunshine Tour