Under-prepared Rosado leads at Modderfontein

He hasn’t been practicing as much as he’d like, but that didn’t stop Antonio Rosado opening the Big Easy tournament at Modderfontein Golf Club with a five-under-par 67 on Wednesday.

He made bogeys on six and 15, but seven birdies more than made up for that and gave him a one-sttroke edge of local amateur Marco Steyn, who plays his golf out of Modderfontein and is fresh off his victory in the Prince’s Grant National Amateur Invitational last week.

“My game is good, but I haven’t been able to practice as much as I wanted to,” said Rosado, who has had a brush with some sort of stomach ailment recently. Dealing with that as well as his wife’s ill-health. “To go to the course for just half-an-hour twice a week is not enough.”

Despite the difficulties he faces, he had no complaints. “I’m happy with the start. Any time you shoot five-under-par, it’s good,” said Rosado. “I played well, and I putted well too. And I also kept the ball in play. I think that’s the secret of the game. Keep the ball in play and make putts, you’ll go low.”

Steyn, who had an eagle three on the eighth, also had two bogeys on his card, but he was pleased with his round. “The course was set up reasonably easy, but the wind blew a bit and there were a few tricky holes out there. I know this course back to front. I’ve been playing here since I was eight. I know it pretty well, but you’ve still got to hit the good shots.”

Behind the leading duo was a gropu of three players on three-under-par in a share of third at the halfway mark of the 36-hole tournament. Bryandrew Roelofsz, Etienne Bond and Duane Keun were all nicely poised to give chase to Rosado.

The Portuguese national is based in Gauteng, and he has experience on Modderfontein. “I’ve played here a few times, and I enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve had some good scores here before.”

He’ll be relying on that experience in the final round and he’ll be looking to give himself a boost to his morale with a victory. “Tomorrow, I won’t be doing too much different,” he said of his approach to the final round. “I’ll just try to play shot-by-shot.”