Sam Bairstow and Fredrik From share early lead in SA Open

England’s Sam Bairstow and Sweden’s Fredrik From were simply delighted to be able to tee off their first rounds of the Investec SA Open, never mind share the clubhouse lead by the end of the first day at Durban Country Club on Thursday.

It required a monumental effort by the course maintenance staff and the eThekwini Municipality to take what was a waterlogged golf course after a deluge of rain the day before and work through the night for an almost miraculous transformation of this layout, with only a three hour delay of the tee times. 

Bairstow and From took full advantage and opened with rounds of seven-under-par 65 to lead, while SA’s Darren Fichardt was also on seven under with four holes to play when darkness forced a suspension of play.

The delayed start means the first round will have to be completed on Friday morning, with play scheduled to resume at 8am.

SA’s Jayden Schaper, Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, India’s Shubhankar Sharma, China’s Haotong Li and England’s Todd Clements all finished the day on six under par. But for Bairstow and From, and indeed every professional in the field, it was a miracle that they could even tee off on Thursday.

“The day before I thought there would be no chance of playing, especially seeing the water on 16th hole. But all credit to the maintenance staff for getting the course playable. They did an unbelievable job,” said Bairstow.

 “I couldn’t believe it this morning when they didn’t call it off, to be honest. They must have worked the whole night pumping hundreds of thousands of litres of water. They did a great job,” said From. 

Both players did well to drop only one shot in their rounds, while From added two eagles during his 65 on the par-five third and 10th holes.

“I hit them both pretty close so it wasn’t too much work. My driver was working very well and it’s the kind of golf course where a good driving game can give you opportunities,” said the man who plays under a Swedish flag but who feels entirely at home in SA having spent so many years competing on the Sunshine Tour. 

“It’s like I’m representing two flags here this week. For that reason it would be great to win,” he said. 

Behind them, Ramsay has put himself in a great position to claim a second SA Open title after his triumph in 2009. And Schaper has also made a strong claim on this title after a few close finishes in the past. He finished tied sixth while still an amateur in the 2020 Open, and also had finishes of tied ninth in 2022 and tied fifth in 2023.

“I’ve got a lot of good memories in this tournament. It’s just one that you want to do well in at our home Open, and this is a great venue for it this week,” said Schaper. 

Bryan Newman and Christiaan Maas are the leading amateurs on one under par but are still to complete their first rounds.