Garth Mulroy’s title defence under threat
The South African golf professional, Garth Mulroy, stepped onto the field of Alfred Dunhill Championship as the defending champion of the tournament.
He recorded last year’s win as one of his most prized victories on the Sunshine Tour.
As the tournament started, the players at the Leopard Creek Golf Club pulled up a notch. Meanwhile a high level of golf was witnessed and thoroughly enjoyed by the spectators.
This year, Mulroy was not able to get the start that would do justice to his title defense. However, it was just the first day of the tournament and it is still early to anticipate his fate.
The South African made six birdies, which is a high average for any player at any level. However, the impact of those birdies diminished due his ghastly performance on a few holes.
Mulroy registered his birdies on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 16th and the 18th hole. With four birdies on the front-nine, he was going at the same pace with the top players.
The only thing that tarnished his record during the day, halfway through the course, was a bogey which he made on the 9th hole.
Mulroy carded 32 on the front-nine, which is the shorter half of the course. Going onto the back-nine, the South African made some disastrous blunders which cost him many positions on the leaderboard.
He recorded two bogeys and a double bogey on the latter half of the course. The two bogeys came on the 14th and 17th hole. In addition, a double bogey, which was totally unexpected from the defending champion, came on the 12th
hole.
The South African golfer finished his day on the course with a score of one-under 71. Although the defending champion had a disappointing start to the tournament, it is still early to jump to any conclusions.
With such high profile players on the course competing with each other, things are bound to get tough for the golfers on the course.
Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel are also battling hard at the lucrative tournament.
Mulroy will have to produce something extraordinary on the course to make a comeback and threaten the top contenders of the title.
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