WALTERS AND DE VRIES FIVE CLEAR OF FIELD IN IFQ AFRICA

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R and A
Johannesburg, South Africa: South Africa’s Justin Walters made light work of the back nine on a soft and receptive East Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington to share the lead after round one of Open Championship International Final Qualifying Africa.
After making eight pars and a solitary eagle on the front nine, Walters dropped back to one under par with a bogey on the par-three 12th hole. From there he rallied, however, coming home with four straight birdies from the 13th, before a six-iron to 15-feet on the par-five last provided him with his second eagle of the day and a seven-under-par total of 64.
Walters shares the lead with the Netherlands’ Floris de Vries. Five shots ahead of the rest of the field, the pair look favourites to claim two of the three available places at Royal St George’s.
It was a welcome turn-around for Walters, who failed to make the cut at last week’s Joburg Open held on both the East and West courses at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington.
“It was playing long today. If you keep it in the fairway then it’s not too bad but otherwise it’s very long, but I guess that’s its only defence today,” he explained. “Last week, I kept playing conservatively and taking three-wood off the tee short of the bunker on 18, but today I was feeling it and I hit a great drive which allowed me to hit a six-iron in to 15 feet. I had a good read from my caddie and it went in, so it was a great way to finish.”
De Vries started quickly en route his round of 64, with five birdies over the first nine holes. Three more birdies and a lone bogey saw him consolidate his position on the inward half, on a course where he flourished last week, finishing tied-13th at the Joburg Open.
Martin Maritz of South Africa and England’s Andrew Marshall were tied for third on two-under par, with five more players completing their rounds on one under par.
The leaders will play together in the second round, with Walters and De Vries teeing-off at 8.59am, local time.
A field of 36 players is contesting 36 holes of International Final Qualifying at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. The top three, after tomorrow’s second round, will earn a place at the 140th Open Championship, to be held at Royal St George’s in Kent, England, on 13 – 17 July.
Full, first-round, hole-by-hole scores, along with tomorrow’s draw, can be found on Opengolf.com.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
64 - Justin Walters; Floris de Vries (NED);
69 - Andrew Marshall (ENG); Martin Maritz;
70 - Neil Schietekat; Louis de Jager; Jacques Blaauw; Tyrone van Aswegen; Oliver Bekker;
71 - Brandon Pieters; Bradford Vaughan; TC Charamba (ZIM);
72 - Douglas McGuigan; Darren Fichardt; Andre Bossert (SUI);
73 - Bennie van der Merwe; Alex Haindl; Colin Nel; James Kamte; Neil Cheetham;
74 - Tyrone Ferreira; Anton Haig; David Hewan; Tyrone Mordt; Jean Hugo; Willie van der Merwe;
75 - Josh Cunliffe; Jbe Kruger; Alan Michell;
76 - Garth Mulroy; Louis Moolman; Branden Grace; Anthony Michael;
77 - Jakobus Roos;
79 - Theunis Spangenberg; Divan van den Heever