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Aiken, in first group out, sets target that no one can match at Africa Open

By PA Sport and Associated Press
Published on
Aiken, in first group out, sets target that no one can match at Africa Open

South Africa’s Thomas Aiken shot a 9-under 64 Thursday at the Africa Open for a one-shot lead after the first round of the European Tour’s season-opening tournament.

Aiken had five birdies and two eagles at the par-73 East London Golf Club for a one-shot lead over South Africans Retief Goosen and Jaco Ahlers.

Welshman Phillip Price, Michael du Toit and Dean O’Riley were two strokes behind the leader. Price is the only non-South African player in the top six after 18 holes.

Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen was five off the lead after an opening 4-under 69.

Aiken set a clubhouse target that proved impossible to match – he was in the first group out from the ninth tee at 6:30 a.m. local time. He opened with two pars before making an eagle-3 on the 11th and then closing out his front nine with birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th.

Another eagle arrived at the par-5 third after a stunning approach to just two feet, and Aiken picked up two more birdies in a flawless round on the fifth and sixth.

"I wasn't really expecting that after two weeks without touching a club," Aiken said. "It was a great morning this morning, early start and the scoring conditions were good. It was out there for the taking and luckily I hit some really good shots and made putts.

"I really enjoyed the round today; this is not the longest course, but it bites if you go askew," he added. "Anything off line on this course is pretty much a reload off the tee, which makes it a thinking man's course.

"There are a lot of risk-and-reward holes -- a couple of driveable par 4s and tricky par 3s -- and I think that a lot of new courses lack that challenge."

Two-time U.S. Open champion Goosen got off to a poor start with a bogey on the opening hole, but responded in style with five birdies in a row from the 11th and another on the 18th to cover the back nine in just 30 strokes.

Goosen picked up three more birdies on the front nine to complete his 65, which was later matched by Ahlers thanks to eight birdies and no bogeys.