Martin hat-trick hopes up in smoke

Pablo Martin’s hopes of an Alfred Dunhill Championship hat-trick lay in ruins in South Africa tonight.

After winning the title on 17 under par in 2009 and then on 11 under last December, the Spaniard opened with a nine over 81 on the same Leopard Creek course.

With only two of the 156-strong field scoring worse, it left Martin a massive 17 strokes behind the joint leaders, England’s Seve Benson and South African Jbe Kruger.

The first amateur ever to win a European Tour event – that came in the 2007 Portuguese Open – the Malaga golfer has not survived a halfway cut since he was fourth in Sweden in July.

He began with a double bogey six and was three over at the turn, he then triple-bogeyed the 11th, double-bogeyed the next and finished with a bogey six.

Benson, in contrast, produced the lowest round of his Tour career with an eight-under 64 as he began his bid to avoid a return to the qualifying school next month.

The 25-year-old, down at 163rd on the money list and needing to win to secure his card for next season, was already three under when he started for home and had five more birdies in six holes.

“I love playing here – it’s a great course, apart from it being very hot,” said Benson, who had to contend with temperatures that reached 41 degrees.

“I was aggressive in the right areas. When I had the chance to go for it I did. It’s so hot that sometimes you have to take a few deep breaths. Everyone out there is affected.”

Kruger eagled the 541-yard 18th, also grabbed seven birdies and would have led on his own but for a bogey at the short 16th.

They are two ahead of Scots George Murray and Alan McLean, France’s Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and South African George Coetzee, the only member of the world’s top 100 taking part.

Murray, joint third in the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews last month, racked up 10 birdies, but also had two bogeys and a double bogey on the 10th.

Former Ryder Cuppers Oliver Wilson and Phillip Price, 132nd and 118th respectively on the Order of Merit, both managed only a two over 74.

The top 115 retain their cards following the Hong Kong Open in a fortnight.