Dingle takes ‘unexpected’ lead at Houghton

Wynand Dingle was happy with his start to the Big Easy Houghton tournament where he shot a low six-under-par 66 to take an ‘unexpected lead’ lead going into the final round.

Despite dropping three shots on the ninth hole – his last – where he was on nine-under already, and where a birdie there would have taken him to double digits, Dingle felt the result was good enough.

“I just played well all day,” Dingle said after his round, “and I hit my driver really well and I putted pretty well the whole day.”

Having started on 10, Dingle wasted no time in getting into his groove; firing in four birdies and an eagle on the back nine- which was his front. He did not relent on the homeward stretch as he shot in three more birdies before an unwanted triple-bogey on his last hole ruined what would have been a perfect round.

“Certainly unexpected,” he said about topping the leaderboard on day one. “I have been feeling a bit sick the last few days so I have not been playing much golf, and I’m pretty surprised to be among the leaders here.”

In a tight affair at the top, Drikus van der Walt and Coert Groenewald occupy second spot on five-under par after they both shot 67s. Van der Walt’s six birdies on the day were cancelled out by the bogey he made on the fourth hole, while Groenewald made two bogeys and seven birdies to get to five-under.

“Yeah I am very chuffed with the round,” said Van der Walt. “The greens are a little bit slower, so they are a bit forgiving. I made a couple of mistakes with short little pitch shots but apart from that, it was good.”

Desne van den Berg and Dean O’Riley share fourth on four-under-par while Portugal’s Antonio Rosado is tied at sixth with Roberto Lupini, amateur Matt Saulez and six others on three-under par.