Youngsters take Alfred Dunhill Championship lead as stars lurk just behind

A pair of 25-year-olds fired nine-under-par 63 to share the first-round lead of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Royal Johannesburg on Thursday, but breathing down their necks is a clutch of local stars, including seven SA Open winners.

Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra performed his heroics in the morning and Christiaan Burke executed his in the afternoon, starting with six birdies in a row to turn in 31 before a chequered second nine of four birdies (three consecutively from 12 to 14), three bogeys and an eagle three on the 18th.

Brandon Stone, the 2016 champion, and Thriston Lawrence, the 2022 winner, are one stroke behind, while Branden Grace (January 2020) and Danie van Tonder (2021) were level on seven under alongside Englishman Brandon Robinson Thompson.

Oliver Bekker, John Parry, Ben Schmidt and Samuel Simpson were on six under while Dean Burmester (2023), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (December 2020) and Louis Oosthuizen (2018) were among 17 players on five under par.

Burke, still chasing his first professional victory, didn’t realise his opening feat until a hole after the run. “I only figured out after the seventh hole I made six birdies in a row …

“You need to play shot for shot, I don’t really think about score. I only realised after 18 I’m nine under. I try to play hole for hole and forget about the score,” added Burke, who as an amateur shot 56 at his home Potchefstroom course, beating the record of 57 set by Oosthuizen in 2002.

Chacarra, whose only DP World Tour win came at the India Open in March, carded one bogey in a round of eight birdies and an eagle.

His sole blemish came on the par-four 15th, where he three-putted, but he rallied quickly with birdie three on 17 and eagle on the 18th, the easiest hole of the day.

He knocked his seven-iron approach to about 13 feet and then drained the putt after learning the line from one of his playing partners.

“I played really good golf. I’ve been playing really good golf, last week too, it’s just the score wasn’t there,” said Chacarra, who ended tied for 28th at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“But I trust the plan that I have with my caddie and I think we did a tremendous job.”

While the rain held off on Thursday, after heavy downpours the previous few days, conditions were soft.

“The course is playing a little easier, being softer, but you still need to hit the shots out there.

“Hitting the fairways is massive here, the rough being wet and you can get some little flyers and stuff so it’s hard to control the distance, but if you miss some greens or you have good lie on the fairway you can attack a little more than you could if the greens were a little firmer.”

Stone delivered what he rated as the best putting performance of his career in a flawless round of eight birdies.

“I was saying to a few of the guys as we just walked off now, it’s the first time the putter has worked in probably 18 months to two years.

“Gone to the long broomstick and everyone kind of gave me a glance on the putting green over the Monday through Wednesday, but she worked today and hopefully may that long continue.”

Bekker, who scored two eagles in his round, pointed out the greens weren’t too soft either. “There’s a lot of opportunities, but these greens, they’re deceptively firm actually for how much rain we’ve had. If you’re going to miss it in the wrong spot you’re going to struggle to get it really close.”

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