Daniel van Tonder, who is second on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, shot a nine-under par 63 at Koro Creek, to lead the co-sanctioned European Challenge Tour event.
Picture by GETTY IMAGES.

DANIEL van Tonder carded a brilliant nine-under par 63 at Koro Creek Golf Club to take a two-shot lead into the second day of the Limpopo Championship.

The 28-year-old South African is looking to secure his first European Challenge Tour victory at the co-sanctioned Sunshine Tour event in the season-opener.

Van Tonder wasted little time charging to the top of the leaderboard, opening his title bid with an eagle before reeling off seven further gains on day one.

The first event of the season is played across two courses and local teenager Wilco Nienaber and Greek Sunshine Tour player Peter Karmis, who began their title challenge at Euphoria Golf Club, shot seven-under.

They share second place with South African duo Hennie du Plessis and MJ Viljoen, who tackled Koro Creek.

Van Tonder will now travel to Euphoria, where he claimed the second of his three Sunshine Tour victories in 2014.

After the field play one round at both Koro Creek and Euphoria the competitors are whittled down to the top 60 and ties who will compete for the title at Euphoria over the weekend.

“I’m delighted with that score today,” said van Tonder. “I missed a few birdie opportunities out there. But nine-under par is a great way to start.

“It’s not a long course so it is important to plot your way around and if you manage to get your tee shot away, then you give yourself a great birdie opportunity, which I managed to do really successfully.”

While the Limpopo Championship begins the 2020 Road to Mallorca, van Tonder is also targeting a maiden victory on the 2020 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, with the 28-year-old occupying second place with just four events of the Southern African’s circuit season remaining.

“I think it’s a really good thing for the Sunshine Tour and Challenge Tour to compete together, and it was fun to play with Spanish player Pep Angles out there who is a good friend,” added Van Tonder.

“I’ve been playing well for a while and I think my game is good enough to have a chance to win.

“So I’m going to go out and give myself a chance and we’ll see at the end of the day.”

Defending champion JC Ritchie and his fellow South Africans Anton Haig and Rourke van der Spuy share sixth place on six-under.

They were joined on the mark by Germany’s Bernd Ritthammer and Jonas Kölbing, Essex’s former English Amateur Champion Todd Clements and Sweden’s Philip Eriksson.

The 2020 Challenge Tour Road to Mallorca will offer 20 full European Tour cards for 2021 – up from 15 in 2019.

First round leader van Tonder will get his second round under way at 11.20am local time, with the action continuing at both courses at 6.30am.

•Click here for live scoring.

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Robin Roussel aims to go one better than in the Hainan Open by winning the Foshan Open in China, in his quest to be crowned No. 1 on the European Challenge Tour’s Road to Mallorca. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

ROBIN Roussel is taking inspiration from last year’s champion Victor Perez as he bids to move to the top of the Road to Mallorca with a strong performance at this week’s Foshan Open.

The Frenchman is currently in second place on the Road to Mallorca rankings following a runner-up finish at the Hainan Open last week.

Roussel will now go in search of his second win of the season in the event which offers the biggest prize fund, at Foshan Golf Club, from October 24-27.

His first European Challenge Tour victory came on home soil, at the Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open in June, while Perez claimed the Alfred Dunhill Links – the first rookie winner at St Andrews, last month.

And after securing his European Tour playing privileges in Hainan, Roussel now has his eye on being crowned Road to Mallorca No. 1, a posiition currently occupied by Italian Francesco Laporta, the winner in Hainan.

Rouseel knows his form from 2019 could provide a vital platform for next season.

Robin said: “We have seen Victor Perez, Robert MacIntyre, Romain Langasque and some others, like Sebastian Soderberg, play well this year.

“It brings me a lot of confidence because it shows that everybody who jumped from Challenge Tour to the European Tour can perform straightaway.

“To win the Road to Mallorca would mean a lot because it obviously means you’re the one at the top at the end of the season.

“It means that you can perform in the biggest events of the season, which means a lot because it means you can be clutch in the right moments.

“The last three events are the three biggest so if you want to finish well in the rankings then you need to finish strongly in these events.

“I have been really looking forward to these last three because if you finish in the top five on the rankings, then you have to play well in these last three events.”

A year ago in Foshan, MacIntyre and Perez both holed very long putts on the 72nd hole – MacIntyre for eagle and Perez for birdie – to reach a play-off, which the Frenchman won to move up from outside the top 15 to second on the money list.

With a cheque for $70,000 available to this week’s winner there is everything to play for those who occupy the top 15 places, which are separated by 55,000 points.

Germany’s Alex Knappe could – depending on the finishing positions of other players – move from 89th on the Road to Mallorca to the cusp of the top 15 with a win in China so there is plenty to play for in the Foshan Open.

It represents a week which could transform a whole season.

Hampshire’s Richard Bland – the oldest player inside the top 15 who will earn their full European Tour card for 2020 at 46 years old – is currently in fifth place.

The Stoneham GC member won the Challenge Tour Grand Final in 2001, his only victory in 21 years on Tour.

Bland has had three runner-up places and a third this year, his most successful in six full seasons on the Challenge Tour, and is looking to earn promotion back to the European Tour for a fourth time.

Scotland’s Calum Hill – winner of the Made in Denmark and Euram Bank Open – is in fourth, while Lancashire’s Jack Senior, who finished first in the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, in August, is sixth going into the Foshan Open.

All three have realistic ambitions of claiming the top spot.

That trio will be looking to close the gap on Laporta and Roussel this week, while other Home Nation players – Cormac Sharvin, from Northern Ireland, in eighth place, Royal Liverpool’s Matthew Jordan (10th), Scotland’s Conor Symes (13th), and Welshman Oliver Farr – the recent winner in Morocco – who occupies the crucial 15th spot, can all take a big step towards wrapping up their card for 2020.

Twenty-eight-year-old Roussel is experiencing the end-of-season ‘Chinese Swing’ for the first time and has been impressed thus far, particularly with the organisation of each event.

“I have enjoyed my time in China so far,” Roussel said. “Last week was amazing on Hainan Island and I just arrived here in Foshan on Monday.

“I played the course for the first time and it is a lovely course. I heard this event was so well-organised and I have witnessed it since I’ve been here. I’m enjoying it very much.”

This week offers players the final opportunity to book their place at the season-ending Challenge Tour Grand Final at Club de Golf Alcanada, Mallorca.

Only the top 45 players on the Road to Mallorca rankings at the conclusion of the Foshan Open will tee it up in the event, meaning the plethora of players currently outside that mark have it all to do this week to secure a spot in the field.

Somerset’s Laurie Canter occupies the crucial 45th place while Essex’s Todd Clements is currently ranked 46th on the Road to Mallorca.

Canadian Aaron Cockerill, who has three top 10 finishes in his last four starts, sits in 47th place.

On the bubble in the 50s are Lincolnshire’s David Coupland (53rd), former Amateur Champion Garrick Porteous (57th) Walton Heath’s David Boote (58th), and Kent’s Matt Ford (59th), who all need a good week to qualify for the season finale.

To see the current Road to Mallorca rankings click here.

The 2019 Foshan Open will begin at 6.55am local time tomorrow (Thursday), with Dutchman Wil Besseling, Simon Hawkes and Wiltshire Ben Stow getting the action under way from the 10th tee, while Roussel will begin his tournament at 7.45am from the first.

•For live scoring in Foshan click here.

The post Roussel eyes top spot on the Road to Mallorca but pack are closing at Foshan Open appeared first on Golf North.

ESSEX’S Todd Clements holds a one-shot lead after the weather-delayed second round of the Challenge Tour’s innovative ISPS Handa World Invitational with a separate men and women’s tournament being staged side by side for the first time in Europe.

Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow (pictured) and Manon De Roey are leading the way in the women’s section of the innovative tournament presented by Modest! Golf Management, being staged in Northern Ireland.

In a race to finish his round before nightfall, Clements posted four birdies in his opening nine holes at Galgorm Castle Golf Club before defying the challenging scoring conditions to come back in level par

That secured his place at the top of the leaderboard for the first time in the 2017 English Amateur Champion’s short professional career on seven-under.

Clements said: “I’ve played great over the last couple of days. The putts have been dropping and it’s the first time I’ve been out in the lead over the weekend.

“So it’s a new experience and I’m just going to learn,” said the Braintree GC member, who is coached by Surrey’s former teenage prodigy Zane Scotland.

“It’s been tricky with the weather, as everyone knows,” added Todd, who won the English Amateur title at The Berkshire two years ago.

“With the suspensions you’ve just got to stay patient and it’s a mental battle more than anything else for me.

“It’s wet, it’s soft and it plays to my strengths, which is great,’ said Clements.

“It was a bit of a rush at the end to get in before it got too dark. I had a six-footer for par on the last and it horseshoed on me.

“Will I regret that over the weekend? Who knows.

“I’m just going to keep learning, keep doing what I’m doing, it’s the same strategy and hopefully it all comes together for me.”

Despite bogeying his final hole, the 22-year-old will begin his third round at Galgorm Castle with a narrow advantage over four players.

That includes Scotland’s two-time European Challenge Tour winner Calum Hill, Spaniard Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez, Somerset’s Laurie Canter and Italy’s Francesco Laporta, who sit one shot back on six-under.

Canter, the winner of both the South African Strokeplay and Spanish Amateur titles, said: “Honestly, I had so much fun out there today.

“It’s been a tough few years where I’ve been struggling to find my game, so it’s great to be back in contention again.

“I wasn’t really thinking about too much out there. I’ve come into this event off the back of a three-week break and a trip to Ibiza and instead of getting bogged down in my thought process I just went and played golf.

“It was just really fun to be playing like that again and hoping for more of the same tomorrow,” added Canter, who is attached to Cumberwell Park, in Wiltshire and also won the Hampshire Hog at North Hants, and the West of England Strokeplay, as an amateur.

With nearly four inches of rain falling on the two co-hosting venues, Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Club, overnight and howling wind making for tough conditions, local star Meadow demonstrated why she is touted as one of Europe’s best talents with a two-under 70.

Meadow jumped ahead of overnight leader Ellie Givens, from Darlington, into a share of the top spot at the halfway stage on four-under.

Meadow, who represented Ireland in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, said: “My front nine definitely felt pretty tough.

“The wind was howling out there and the greens were a little firmer than I’d expected given how much rain we’d had so that was a bit of a learning curve throughout the round,” said Stephanie, who turned pro in 2014.

“The greens are rolling almost exactly the same at both venues so good job to the green staff for preparing the course that way.

“I’ve been close the last couple of days to doing something really nice, so I’m just going to go out tomorrow and keep doing more of the same stuff.

“It’s fantastic to be back in Northern Ireland, it’s actually my first professional event at home and the first tournament I’ve played in Ireland since 2013,” said Meadow who played in two Curtis Cups in 2012 and 2014.

“I can’t tell you how much it means for all these people to come out and watch me.

“I make a putt and there’s lots of claps and the lots of hugs at the end and just genuine joy from people to see me out here competing,” added the former University of Alabama golfer.

“It doesn’t matter if I win or don’t win they’re behind me so it’s very special and I’m very touched,” added Meadow, who secured his first win on the Symetra Tour in the USA, last year.

The Northern Irish player is joined at the summit of the leaderboard by De Roey, who added a one-under 71 to her opening round of 70 for a four -under total.

De Roey is looking to add the ISPSA Handa title to the LET Access Tour title she clinched earlier in the summer.

The pair are one-shot clear of a seven-strong chasing pack which includes former World No. 1 amateur Leona Maguire, first-round leader Givens and Middlesex golfing legend Trish Johnson.

It was another day to remember for the Irish amateurs in the field, with Lauren Walsh carding a one-under par 72 at Galgorm Castle to head into the weekend of her first professional event just one shot off the lead.

Irish amateur Annabel Wilson said: “I’m not fazed by much, I made one poor swing off the first tee which led to a double.

“But I hit a lovely shot into two and then just moved on and didn’t think too much more about it.

“That’s just golf, it’s why you love it. My short game was great. I actually had chipped-in twice which is always helpful.

“I’m not much of a leaderboard watcher, maybe I’ll have a quick look tonight especially for the draw tomorrow and see who I might be playing with.

“It’s cool that Charley Hull is playing this week. We were on opposite ends of the draw so I haven’t seen her yet, I’d like to see her hit a ball before the end of the week.”

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Josh Hill showed plenty of guts as he fired a three-under par 67 at Massereene Golf Club, to sit in a share of 11th place.

That ensured Hill will contest the weekend at his home club alongside the stars of the European Challenge Tour.

For live scores click here

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