Magnificent seven share lead in CIRCA Cape Town Open

Louis Albertse. Sunshine Tour

The first-round leaderboard of the CIRCA Cape Town Open resembled the peak holiday queue for the cable car up Table Mountain as seven players finished tied for the lead on seven-under par at Royal Cape Golf Club on Thursday.

Louis Albertse is the lone South African in that pack after his opening round of 65 earned him the joint lead with England’s Tom Lewis, Will Enefer and Sam Hutsby, Ireland’s Gary Hurley, Norway’s Baard Skogen and Scotland’s Marc Warren.

They are one stroke clear of a pack of nine players that includes Wilco Nienaber, who made only the second albatross of his career at the par-five 16th as he signed for a 66.

It’s an intriguing leaderboard, with Albertse contending for a tournament where he finished third in 2024; Enefer sharing the lead on a golf course where he caddied for his Ladies European Tour girlfriend, Ana Dawson, when she played a Sunshine Ladies Tour event here in 2024; Hurley leading a tournament after believing last September he might never play competitive golf again because of a shoulder condition; and Lewis who stunned the world in 2011 when as an amateur he shared the first-round lead in The Open.

“To start the week like this is pleasing,” said Albertse. “My expectations were low going into the round and I just wanted a solid start. I got the front nine going, made a bogey on 10 which was disappointing but then played really nicely coming in,” he said of his five birdies in six holes on the back nine.

Hurley was equally delighted with his opening round, given that he’s come to South Africa for this co-sanctioned Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour stretch of tournaments to test a shoulder condition he thought might end his career.

“About three weeks ago I actually wasn’t going to come out here. About a year ago I woke up one day and couldn’t lift up my arm and didn’t know what it was. I went to see a specialist and she said I had Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, which in my case affected a spinal nerve that controls everything with how you move your shoulder. It took so long to recover and last September I was starting to look at doing other things outside of golf. Then I started working with my coach to find a way to load my shoulder differently in the swing. It doesn’t seem to cause me pain anymore. I’m delighted,” he said.

And Lewis was thrilled to have gone bogey-free on day one. “It was a nice round. Bogey-free always shows you’re hitting it well. I miss being out on the main tour. Last year I didn’t want to play and this year I do want to play, so I’m really looking forward to the next few days,” he said.

Cllr Mzwakhe Nqavashe, Portfolio Chairperson for Safety and Security for the City of Cape Town, hits the ceremonial tee shot ahead of the first round of the CIRCA Cape Town Open at Royal Cape Golf Club on Thursday. Sunshine Tour

Scores

65 - Louis Albertse

65 - Sam Hutsby, Will Enefer, Gary Hurley, Baard Skogen, Tom Lewis, Marc Warren

66 - Trevor Fisher Jnr

66 - Dan Erickson, Malcolm Mitchell, Wilco Nienaber, Lyle Rowe, Canon Claycomb, Pablo Ereno, Robson Chinhoi, Hennie Otto

67 - Ryan Lumsden

67 - Julien Sale, JJ Senekal, Gerhard Pepler, Maximilian Kieffer, David Horsey, George Coetzee, Nikhil Rama, Bjorn Akesson

68 - Christiaan Burke

68 - Haraldur Magnus, Martin Vorster, Filip Mruzek, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Jason Roets, Ryan Van Velzen, Conor Purcell, Austin Bautista, Rupert Kaminski, Samuel Simpson, Tapio Pulkkanen

69 - Callan Barrow

69 - Max Kennedy, Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen, Benjamin Hebert, Lars van Meijel, Hamish Brown, Haydn Porteous, Nick Carlson, Jack Hawksby, Pedro Figueiredo, Keenan Davidse, Maxence Giboudot, Callum Farr, Jaco Ahlers, Matthew Southgate, Per Langfors, Ruan Korb, Santiago Tarrio

70 - Luke Brown

70 - Andrew Wilson, Lukas Nemecz, Pieter Moolman, Collin Adams, Karabo Mokoena, Bryce Easton, Vince van Veen, Robert Foley, James Meyer De Beco, Benjamin Rusch, Kieran Vincent, Jannik de Bruyn, Nick Bachem, James Mack, Grant Haefner

71 - Liam Nolan

71 - Wynand Dingle, Sam Jones, Daan Huizing, Julien Quesne, Lorenzo Scalise, Robin Williams, Anders Ejlersen, Jamie Rutherford, Rhys West, Kieron van Wyk, Kyle De Beer, Steven Brown, Jacques Blaauw, Victor Sidal Svendsen, Kyle Barker, Borja Virto, Albert Boneta, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, MJ Viljoen, Alex Goff, Deon Germishuys, Kyle McClatchie, Christofer Rahm, Martin Rohwer

72 - Xander Basson

72 - Jeppe Kristian Andersen, Victor Pastor, Jovan Rebula, Jack McDonald, Sebastian Friedrichsen, Josh Hilleard, Otto Van Buynder, Lucas Vacarisas, Altin van der Merwe, Jean Hugo, Jaco Prinsloo, Yannik Paul, Stephen Ferreira, Graham van der Merwe, Estiaan Conradie

73 - Franklin Manchest

73 - Heinrich Bruiners, Palmer Jackson, Alfie Plant, Tyran Snyders, Calum Fyfe, Dylan Mostert, Allen John, Keelan Africa, Luke Jerling, Javier Barcos Garbayo, Neil Schietekat, Joel Moscatel, Warwick Purchase, Anton Albers, Robin Petersson, MJ Daffue, Jacquin Hess, CJ du Plessis

74 - Tristin Galant

74 - Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, Peter Karmis, Jacques P de Villiers, Toto Thimba Jnr, Ronan Kleu, James Sugrue, Clement Sordet, Yurav Premlall, Benjamin Van Wyk, Callum Tarren

75 - Matthis Besard

75 - Herman Loubser, Rhys Enoch, Ruan Groenewald, John Gough, Jean-Paul Strydom, Ayden Knight, Hurly Long

76 - Hennie O'Kennedy

76 - Marcel Steyn Scholtz, Jordan Duminy

77 - Stuart Krog

78 - Ricky Hendler

79 - Luis Carrera