Kavanagh and Da Silva take first

round honours in Open Qualifier

The first round of the International Final Qualifier – Africa was dominated by England’s Jeremy Kavanagh and Brazil’s Adilson Da Silva who each scored three-under par 67 at the Royal Durban Golf Course today.
Kavanagh delivered four birdies on a card spoiled with only one bogey. The Englishman took a conservative approach which saw 13 pars, 10 consecutively from holes nine to 17.
“The course and the wind factor both proved difficult, and – especially with this being a qualifier – they’ve set a tough one out there today,” said Kavanagh who would count it an honour to play in The Open.
“To play in The Open will be really special,” he added. “I’m not looking at getting ahead of myself, but rather to approach this tournament like any other, so if it happens I get through the qualification, it will be fantastic.”
Da Silva had a perfect start with birdies on the first two holes and continued to control his game with an additional three birdies. His back nine delivered six consecutive pars from the 12th hole.
Darren Fichardt was clearly fond of the Durban course after his round of 68, whilst Tyrone Ferreira, Henk Alberts, Tyrone van Aswegen and Marc Cayeux all finished with one-under par 69.
Ferreira’s round was a liberal mix of birdies, pars and bogeys, while Alberts managed to rake in four birdies. Desvonde Botes, Christiaan Basson, Bradford Vaughn and Doug McGuigan all stayed in contention going into the final round after completing their rounds with even par 70s.
Only one retirement saw Brandon Pieters from Benoni withdraw as a precautionary measure for a recurring injury, after he felt a little pain in his left shoulder following an accident last year.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Players from South Africa unless stated otherwise)
67 Jeremy Kavanagh (Eng), Adilson Da Silva (Brazil).
68 Darren Fichardt
69 Tyrone Ferreira; Henk Alberts; Tyrone van Aswegen; Marc Cayeux
70 Desvonde Botes; Christiaan Basson; Bradford Vaughn; Doug McGuigan
71 TC Charamba (Zim); Divan van den Heever; Albert Pistorius; Dion Fourie; Alan Michell
72 Tyrone Mordt; Oliver Bekker; Neil Schietekat
73 Jaco Ahlers; Jeff Inglis (Eng); Warren Abery; Vaughn Groenewald; Martin Maritz
74 Justin Walters (Eng), Ryan Tipping; Shaun Norris; Louis Moolman; Brett Liddle
75 Josh Cunliffe; Jaco van Zyl
77 Trevor Fisher Jnr; Alex Haindl
78 David Hewan; Mark Murless; Merrick Bremner; Ross Wellington
79 Omar Sandys
81 - Jake Roos
RTD - Brandon Pieters.