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MARK Williams continued with his fine start at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the Leopard Creek Country Club yesterday. After shooting a 67 to take up second place in the morning field on the first day Williams returned with a level par 72 and kept fifth position.
The Zimbabwean has been runner-up twice on the Sunshine Tour this year but, in recent months, has struggled with his form and goes into today’s round trailing leader Charl Schwartzel by six clear shots.
On Tuesday he went 10-under-par for the pre-qualifier at Irene Country Club, which earned him a spot in this week’s €1,5 million tournament.
“It’s been a good year for me so far and I played nicely over the winter period. I had a couple of bad finishes coming into this but shot 62 in the pre-qualifier and that renewed my confidence.
“I love this golf course, and my length does help, but you still have to hit it straight. It’s nice to get the first round underway with a good start.
“I had a bit of a dream start. I parred the first three holes and then holed my second shot on the fourth. I followed it up with two birdies a hole later and that helped me get to four-under pretty quickly.
“I had a couple of bumps on the road and dropped at eight and 10, but I came back nicely and had an awesome finish. I made three great putts to end off – a par save on 16 and then birdie putts on 17 and 18,” he told sunshine Tour.
The 31-year-old was one of the first players out on Thursday morning and took advantage of the mint condition of the course.
“We had the greens in perfect conditions teeing off at 6,20 this morning, so it was great to get out there a little bit cooler than it is now.
“It was a little bit tough coming from the pre-qualifier, getting here yesterday, rushing around in the practice round, and then seeing 6.20, but now I’m very pleased with the result,” he said.
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