Sunshine Tour; Michell and Grace surge to clubhouse lead at Nashua Masters
Alan Michell and Branden Grace stole the limelight on Thursday by firing a score of 8-under-62 in the first round of the Sunshine Tour's Nashua Masters, which was taking place at the Wild Coast Sun City Country
Club in KwaZulu - Natal, South Africa.
The event carrying a purse of $7 million with a winner's share of $1.2 million attracted 800 spectators according to the press releases. The initial attention was on Jean Hugo, but as the darkness descended, Branden
Grace and Alan Michell wrapped the inaugural round with a 62 in the last event of the year.
The epic drama started when a delay of two hours hit the tournament owing to the bad weather. Despite that, all the 31 players fought the strong rain well and managed to keep the scores down in the realms of par.
The highest score reached was 67, which was carded by 17 players. However, the lowest score was chased after the delay when Michell and Grace helped by pleasant weather conditions picked up eight birdies each.
Alan Michell initially faced trouble, but managed to par the first two holes. However, as the wind died, he picked four birdies in the front-nine and four more in the closing holes. What alleviated the entertainment was the birdie
putt at the last hole; Michell walked towards the par-4 hole with his caddie and swung the Titleist driver. The ball plunged across the first fairway and fell few paces away from the green. The South African aimed the second shot with a 9-iron and the ball
rolled into the green. Michell’s caddie handed him the putter and the player without a second thought hit the ball right into the hole from eight feet.
There was a slight possibility that Michell would have missed the birdie, as lightening conditions were timid. Despite all odds, the player had 72.2% Green Hits in regulations and wrapped the round with 24 putts. Michell’s secret
to low scoring was his excellent short game. Despite that, he was not pleased with his putting as he stated it as a card played by luck.
Speaking to the press he said, "I didn't actually play all that well, but I scored well. I even got a bit of luck when I was over the green on the eight, but the ball spun back and came to rest in the fringe. I made the putt, but
on another day, I could have been stuck in the fringe and ended up with a bogey.”
On the other hand, Branden Grace vaulted an identical score to that of the early leader and surged into lead. The player had been suffering a wrist injury and after a long gap, the swings and practice finally paid off. Grace was
happy with his game, which was finally coming back in form.
Shedding comments on his performance Grace said, “I still feel a bit strange with it sometimes, but it's bedding down now and after my bad week last week, it's all feeling better. I said I wanted to keep up the momentum from last
year's final round," he said, "and this was the best way to start."
The player finished third last season in the same event when Darren Fichardt claimed the victory.
Trailing behind were three players, Jacques Blaauw, Jake Roos and Alex Haindl. However, the best performance was delivered by Jake Roos, who carded six birdies without dropping a single shot. One shot behind was a group of four
players, which included T.C. Charamba. The player carded two eagles and three birdies to take the sixth spot of the leader board.
This is it for the first round of the Nashua Masters, which took place at the Wild Coast Sun City Country Club in South Africa.
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