21st January 2025 | Big Easy Tour
Mokoena off to a fast start at Observatory
Karabo Mokoena carded a near-perfect six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the 10th Betway Big Easy Tour tournament which is underway at Observatory Golf Club.
This 54-hole event is the last tournament of the regular season before the season-ending Playoff which is to be held at Killarney Country Club in February and The Final which will be played at The Els, Copperleaf in March.
Fresh from a T53 on the Sunshine Tour’s Mediclinic Invitational at Heron Banks Estate last week, Mokoena felt he had found something in the Vaal and sought to ride that wave at Observatory on Tuesday.
The course here is very tight,” he said, “but I just kept the ball on the fairway. I took some notes from last week’s Sunshine tour events at Heron Banks and improved on some aspects; especially the putting. I spent a long time on the putting green and I am happy I made a few today. I was unfortunate to make a bogey with a three-foot putt on 16; the greens were getting slower in the afternoon. But I am happy with my round.”
The par on the ninth proved to be the beginning of a streak of seven straight pars before Mokoena dropped his first shot of the day on the par-four 16th. He didn’t dwell too much on the lost gains and birdied the last two holes to finish with a 66. Mokoena, who plays out of Modderfontein Golf Club, credited his driver for his solid display on day one.
“Funny, I broke my driver in December and I didn’t have a driver until the day before last week’s tournament at Heron Banks,” he said. “I was hitting it so badly in the practice round and then in the first round there, I was learning a few things about it.
“Today though my tee shots were very good and you need that on a tight golf course like this. The driver really came through for me today and the putting was also good, so it was a good performance today.”
A shot back lurks East London Golf Club’s Lwazi Gqira whose eventful round of 67 was the second-lowest round of the day after Mokoena’s. Ryan Tipping shot 68 to take third on the leaderboard while Richard Joubert, Christopher Long, Ryan Van Der Klis, Ulrich van den Berg and England’s Thomas Spreadborough share fourth on three-under-par.
