Golf

Sport24.co.za | Bremner curbs aggression to take Humewood lead



Port Elizabeth – Merrick Bremner reined in his naturally aggressive
game to good effect on Thursday on his way to a seven-under-par 65 and a share
of the lead after the first round of the R1 million Vodacom Origins of Golf
event at Humewood Golf Club.

Starting his
round on the 10th hole, he made three birdies on his way to the turn, and
then four more after that as he handed in a bogey-free card to share the lead
with Dylan Naidoo. The pair was two shots clear of Jacquin Hess who shot a 67
to finish the first round of the 54-hole event in second.

“I played to
a game-plan,” said Bremner of his game which featured less use of driver than
usual for him.

“There were some holes with a different wind today from the one
we had in the pro-am, so you have to make decisions on the fly. I stuck to what
I had decided for the most part, but I did hit a couple of different shots –
less club, rather than more – and it seemed to pay off.”

There were
moments when Bremner was able to indulge his desire to pull the driver out,
however.

“The birdie on eight was really nice,” he said.

“It was pretty much
straight downwind off the tee, and I hit a beautiful driver down the middle of
the fairway. I had 102 to the flag. With it being so much downwind, I tried to
pitch it maybe seven or eight short of the flag. I did and it still skipped on
past the pin, got to a little backstop and kind of fed back down. I made the
12- or 13-footer for birdie.”

His putting
was solid throughout on a day during which everything fell into place for him,
but nothing seemed startlingly good to him.

“No really key moments for me out
there,” he said.

“I did make a really good putt on the third, the par-three,
which jump-started my back nine. Otherwise, I was just pretty solid. I hit a
lot of fairways, found a lot of greens and made some putts.”

For Naidoo,
it’s been an unspectacular year so far as he’s attempted to rebuild his game on
his return from a scholarship in the United States. This score represented a
major improvement on just three cuts made this season, with a best of a share
of 21st at the end of August.

“It was
awesome,” said Naidoo.

“I played some good golf today. For the last few
tournaments, I’ve been feeling the good golf starting to flow like there’s a
bit of momentum going. It’s kind of a continuation of that but I’m glad to get
a really low score.”

Like Naidoo,
Hess made just a single bogey in his round – on the eighth. It was a round
during which he missed just one green the whole day, so his plan for the second
round is clear.

Bremner
articulated the plan perfectly and will attempt to execute it again in the
second round.

“The premium is probably on hitting fairways and get on the
greens and then just let the putter do the work,” he said.

“It’s always tricky
when you come to Humewood. Coastal golf, links golf is not the easiest, but if
you can get it round, you can create a lot of opportunities.”

Scores:

65 – Merrick Bremner, Dylan Naidoo

67 – Jacquin
Hess

68 – Steve
Surry, Ockie Strydom, Wynand Dingle

69 – Ruan
de Smidt, JJ Senekal, Allister de Kock, Andrew van der
Knaap, Ruan Conradie, James Hart du Preez

70 – Deon
Germishuys, Daniel van Tonder, Clinton Grobler, Wallie
Coetsee, Christiaan Basson, Riekus Nortje, Daniel
Greene, Ruan Korb, Philip Geerts

71 – Ryan
O’Neill, Jacques Blaauw, Jake Redman, Jaco Prinsloo, Luke
Jerling, Luke Mayo, Joe Nawanga, Rourke van der
Spuy, Jonathan Agren, Doug McGuigan, MJ Viljoen, Lyle Rowe

72 – Sipho
Bujela, Matthew Rushton, Darin de Smidt, Jean-Paul
Strydom, CJ du Plessis, Hennie Otto, Combrinck Smit, Scott
Campbell, Derick Petersen, Teaghan Gauche, Yubin
Jung, Andrew Curlewis, Martin Rohwer, Pieter Moolman, Ryan
Tipping

73 – Tristen
Strydom, Jacques P de Villiers, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Sean
Bradley, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Kyle McClatchie, Jared
Harvey, Titch Moore, Jonathan Waschefort, Stephen
Ferreira, Benjamin Follett-Smith, Kyle Barker, Estiaan
Conradie, Francois van Vuuren

74 – Neswill
Croy, Ruan Huysamen, Paul Boshoff, Garrick Higgo, Herman
Loubser, Christopher Van der Merwe, Erhard Lambrechts, DK Kim, Breyten
Meyer, Karl Ochse

75 – Roberto
Lupini, Heinrich Bruiners, Andre Nel, Makhetha
Mazibuko, Anton Haig, Teboho Sefatsa, Peetie van der
Merwe, Matt Bright, Keelan van Wyk, Gerrit Foster, Fredrik
From, Chris Cannon, Hayden Griffiths, Thabiso Ngcobo, TC
Charamba, Theunis Bezuidenhout, Franklin Manchest

76 – Caylum
Boon, Jade Buitendag, Altaaf Bux, Juran Dreyer, Chris
Swanepoel, Tyrone Ryan, Ruan Botha

77 – Basil
Wright, Lwazi Gqira, Callum Mowat, Stefan
Wears-Taylor, Andre De Decker, David McIntyre, Jason Diab

78 – Nicholaus
Frade, Louis Albertse

79 – Arno
Pretorius, Duane Keun, Jean Hugo, CJ Levey

80 – Toto
Thimba, Luke Brown, Thato Mazibuko

81 – Wayne
Stroebel, James Pennington, James Kamte

82 – Alpheus
Kelapile

83 – Hendrikus
Stoop

84 – Marco
de Beer

87 – Fritz
Orren

88 – Pequestro
Dyssel

90 – Eugene
Marugi





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