Course record puts Rumford in front

Australian Brett Rumford is enjoying his first stay in South Africa, and celebrated his new-found love of the Cape Peninsula with a course record-equalling 64 to steal a one-shot lead at the SAA Open at Erinvale today.

But Rumford would not have made it over to the Republic if it wasn’t for his Zimbabwean caddie Ian McGregor, who had nagged him to set foot at the tip of Africa for the last few years and finally convinced the 27-year old Australian he needed to play in this tournament.

It wasn’t a bad idea as the Perth-based professional made the most of an early start and cool conditions to put him on course for what would be his second European Tour title after his win in the St Omer Open in France last year.

There, as on Thursday, he made an amazing start to the tournament but then showed resolve to lead from start to finish to claim his maiden win.

“I putted extremely well today and played pretty solid on the front nine,” he said. “It was a nice day, it kind of happened all of a sudden.”

The Australian, who had to be up at 4.45am to get to his 6.30am tee off time, believes he was helped by the fact he is still suffering from jet-lag.

“I got up very early but the good thing is that I am still a bit on Australian time, seven hours ahead so I get tired in the afternoons,” he added.

“I have been getting up at three or four in the morning anyway, so it worked out well.”

His round was good enough for a one-shot lead over Welshman Stephen Dodd, who surprised everyone with his liking of the course to sneak onto the leaderboard with a 65, despite very little practice over the past few weeks.

With four birdies in his first nine holes, including a massive 25 foot putt for birdie on the 18th, Dodd was always going to be in contention.

His back nine (from the first) started off extremely well with three birdies in the first four holes, including a 25 foot chip on the 407-yard par-four fourth for a birdie.

But then on the seventh he found the bunker on the par-five from his tee shot and scrambled his way to a bogey before getting the shot back with a birdie on nine for a 33.

Dodd said: “I played nicely and hit some shots close and holed a few putts.

“But I just hit it straight and that was the key, driving it straight and hitting the greens. The rough is quite deep in places but I didn’t go in there too often, fortunately.

“I also had a few nice breaks here and there and just made the most of them really.”

His last tournament was the pre-Christmas event in Bangkok before he returned home for the festive season, but it wasn’t a case of getting the clubs out as the Christmas cheer hit.

“I played in Bangkok about 10 days before Christmas and then it was four weeks at home,” he added.

“I did as much as I felt I needed too while I was there, which wasn’t really that much. I just did enough to keep my game in decent shape.

“You can’t do any chipping and putting at home because the greens are in such poor condition.”

England’s Steve Webster is a shot back along with Hendrik Buhrmann and last month’s Omega Hong Kong Open runner-up Hennie Otto, both from South Africa, with Scot Colin Montgomerie among a bunch of players four shots off the pace on 68.

With everything that is new about his game this week, Monty was far from impressed with his own early start, although he did admit looking forward to playing the tourist as he and his family disappeared in the afternoon sun to take in a bit of Cape Town on his first visit.

“68 is okay, four under. I was struggling a bit on the front nine – a little bit anxious really. With a new caddie, new shoes, a new bag and new clubs obviously I was just feeling my way,” he said.

“Then I relaxed and managed to score four on the back nine which was good and puts me in a good position for tomorrow.

“The weather plays a huge part here. We were fortunate this morning but we will have to see what happens tomorrow.”

Defending champion Trevor Immelman struggled with the rest of the field as the conditions changed to sunshine in the afternoon and the wind picked up, shooting a 71 as he matched another struggler in England’s Lee Westwood.