Henrik Stenson turned a five per cent chance of playing into a share of the lead after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge as Danny Willett made an excellent start to his title defence in Sun City.
Stenson finished joint last when seeking a hat-trick of victories in the DP World Tour Championship a fortnight ago, admitting his mind was “not in the right place” at the end of a long year, and arrived in South Africa suffering from the flu.
But the 39-year-old carded a flawless 66 at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday to finish six under par alongside local favourite Jaco van Zyl, with Willett a shot behind following a bogey-free 67.
“I’ve been in bed with the flu for three days and after I had to pull out of the pro-am on Tuesday I probably had a five per cent chance of playing,” said 2008 champion Stenson, who is also due to undergo a minor knee operation next week.
“I felt quite a bit better this morning and the doctor didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t play.
“I’m delighted with the score, but the last few holes I completely ran out of energy. From the 14th onwards my legs were like jelly and it was a real struggle. I missed a couple of chances coming in, but I would’ve taken one under standing on the first tee, so I’m very happy.
“This year the rough is a bit less penal but you still have to be very accurate off the tee and precise with your iron shots.”
Van Zyl has won 13 times on the Sunshine Tour but admitted he was feeling the pressure on his tournament debut, adding: “I could feel my heart beating in my throat on the first tee. This is Africa’s major.”
The 36-year-old birdied three of the last five holes to book his place with Stenson and Willett in the final group on Friday, with fellow South African Branden Grace and British Open runner-up Marc Leishman two shots off the pace on four under.
Willett said on Wednesday he was relishing being one of the favourites in each event he plays after finishing second to Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai and handled the pressure superbly with five birdies and no bogeys.
“Because it’s at the same golf course, people expect you to play well again, but everyone knows how fickle this game can be,” the world number 20 said.
“The course does set up well for me, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to shoot 67 every time you play it.
“I don’t think he (Stenson) can be ill. He played brilliantly. I think he got very tired towards the end there but he played tremendous golf. Looking at that, you’ve got to think that if you can stay close to him over the next few days you’ll be doing well. Not too close though, he can keep his virus away!”
Last year's runner-up Ross Fisher, Matt Fitzpatrick and Russell Knox were three shots off the pace on three under, Knox making his first appearance as a full European Tour member.
The 30-year-old Scot is hoping to qualify for his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine next year and would have earned more than 1.2million points in qualifying if he had been a Tour member at the time of his breakthrough win in the HSBC Champions last month.
“I missed a few putts I should’ve made, but I holed a few nice ones and had two flukey chip-ins, so overall I’m pretty happy,” Knox said.
“This place is incredible; it’s a shame we have to play golf, there’s so many activities to do. I’m looking forward to spending two days after the tournament going on safari. Yesterday we went zip-lining which was a blast, 75mph down a wire – I can’t believe I survived.
“The number one reason I’m here is because I’ve had a great season, so it’s nice to reward myself. It’s a huge bonus and I’m not going to stress out here.”
Shane Lowry carded a two-over 74 to finish the opening day of the no-cut event in a tie for 26th spot in the 30-man field.
The World No 21 made a promising start with a birdie at the par-five second, but four bogeys in six holes – including three-in-a-row from the eighth – pushed him out to three over after 10 holes.
Birdies at the 11th and 15th put him in sight of a level-par opening round, but a bogey on the 18th saw the Offaly golfer sign for a two-over 74.
