Boardman takes control at Killarney

(PHOTO – Terence Boardman; credit CJ du Plooy)

JOHANNESBURG, 27 October 2015 – Terence Boardman fired a flawless four-under-par 66 at Killarney Country Club to grab the first round lead in the fourth IGT Tour Race to Q-School, presented by RAW Golf School, on Tuesday.

The Johannesburg pro made the most of the moderate conditions to reel in gains at six, nine, 14 and 16 to finish one stroke clear of 2015 champions Pieter Kruger and Jason Froneman.

Boardman will start the second round with a two shot cushion over amateur Michael Schutz and professionals Christiaan Pretorius, David Lamprecht and Jason Diab, while Sipho Bujela, Conway Kunneke, Anthony Michael and amateur Phillip Kruse will start a further shot back.

Boardman, who reeled in two top 10s early in the season and tied for 14^th in the first Race to Q-School event on the country’s premier development Tour in early October, was pleased to be in a strong position.

“I managed to get some rhythm on the greens and made some good putts,” he said.

“I haven’t competed much this year, but I have worked really hard on my game. It is nice to keep the ball in the fairway and to shoot some solid scores.  Hopefully I can keep the mistakes to a minimum this week and put myself in an attacking position for the final round.”

Sunshine Ladies Tour campaigner Nobuhle Dlamini is using the nine-tournament Race to Q-School series to get her game in top shape for Stage II of the Ladies European Tour Qualifying School in Morocco in December.

The Swazi golfer opened with a 76 to finish two strokes behind top ranked amateur Ivanna Samu and three shots ahead of fellow LET player, Bonita Bredenhann from Namibia.

“I made some big swing changes last year and I didn’t anticipate that it would take me so long to get used to the changes,” said Dlamini, who claimed a top 20 finish in last week’s Race to Q-School at Houghton.

“Everyone told me I was looking at 12 to 18 months, but I didn’t think it would take that long. The swing is getting better and better, though, even if my scores don’t reflect it yet. I still let myself down with soft bogeys and silly mistakes, but I am really pleased about the swing and putting myself in a competitive environment like the IGT Tour is a great way to sharpen the other aspects of my game.

“Golf is a game of confidence. I don’t have much self-assurance at the moment, but I’ve been around long enough to know that once I can string three good rounds together, the confidence will come very quickly.”

The annual Race to Q-School draws a large contingent of international competitors each year that use the series to hone their games for the Sunshine Tour’s Qualifying School.

Former top ranked English amateur Toby Tree, an IGT Tour winner in 2014, joined the challenge at Killarney alongside seasoned campaigners and fellow Brits Peter Wilson and Neil Cheetham and rookie pro David Ashley.

The international field is further strengthened by Dutchman Justin Levy, Brendan Britten from Namibia, Irish amateur Jeff Hopkins and Tung-nan Lin from Taiwan.

FIRST ROUND SCORES

All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified; amateurs indicated as (ama)

66 – Terence Boardman

67 – Pieter Kruger, Jason Froneman

68 – Christiaan Pretorius, David Lamprecht, Michael Schutz (ama), Jason Diab

69 – Sipho Bujela, Conway Kunneke, Phillip Kruse (ama), Anthony Michael

70 – Peter Wilson ENG, Mikhail Tewary, NJ Arnoldi

71 – Matthew Adams (ama), Nico du Buisson (ama), Derryn Mitri (ama), Bryandrew Roelofsz, Matthew Vogel, Louis Calitz, Bryn Flanagan, Dougie Meijer, Toby Tree ENG

72 – Warrick Druian, David Ashley ENG, Bartjie de Klerk (ama), Matt Bright (ama), Gerard du Plooy, Andi Dill (ama), TJ Bekker, Bryce Bibby

73 – Mario Olivier (ama), Dwayne Coetzee, Stephan Erasmus (ama), Ricki Dembo (ama), Armand Azar (ama), Bryce McCabe, Ivanna Samu (ama), Siphiwe Siphayi

74 – CJ Levey (ama), Cole Dodgen (ama), Etzard Grimbeek (ama), Matthew Kent, Werner van Wyk (ama), Altaaf Bux

75 – Neil Cheetham ENG, Dylan Docherty, Armandt Scholtz (ama), Jason Rossiter (ama), Tumie Motale

76 – Michael Armstrong (ama), Justin Levy NLD, Neal Herman (ama), Angelo Marques (ama), Ryan Ciapparelli, Nobuhle Dlamini SWA, Jacques Ungerer, Brett Liddle

77 – Jason Ackerman (ama), Fouche Botha (ama), Darren Johnson, Nicholas Botha (ama), Devan Payne (ama), Danie Pretorius, Andrew Carlsson (ama), Dylan O’Leary

78 – Bonita Bredenhann NAM, Michael Kok (ama), Jeff Hopkins (ama) IRE

79 – JP Schmidt (ama), Hilton Hughes (ama), Michael Pienaar (ama), Brendan Britten NAM, Vincent Mienie (ama), Garth Mohamed

80 – Norman Beggs, Gavin Miles

81 – Ryan Wingrove (ama), Tung-nan Lin (ama) TWN, Ramon Rigney

82 – Phillip Montgomery

83 – Ricardo Towell

84 – Brendan Blake (ama)

85 – Ryan Kuhn (ama), Richard Tsai (ama)

88 – Morne Wolmarans