Padraig Harrington snatched a brilliant birdie at the last hole to lock down a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club on Thursday.
Harrington, who started slowly with seven straight pars, led early pace-setter Ross Fisher by a stroke and world number one Lee Westwood by two after his excellent opening round of 66.
Harrington had just bogeyed the 17th when his drive on 18 seemed headed for a nasty tomb inside the Sun City bush. Fortunately, it stopped in the semi-rough left of the fairway and sat up nicely, but it was still an exquisite second that the Irishman played to leave himself with a four-foot birdie putt.
Four successive birdies from the eighth hole had earlier ignited Harrington's round and he claimed the lead when Fisher, who had led for most of the day, pushed his drive on the par-four 17th hole left of the fairway and, with his second blocked by trees, had to chip back on to the fairway. His third shot then flew the green and he was unable to avoid three-putting for double-bogey.
Fisher had earlier shown scintillating touch with his putter, whereas most of the other golfers were inconsistent on the greens, as the Englishman raced to seven-under-par through 16 holes.
Westwood was solid, without setting the course alight, while the rest of the field will definitely feel they left some shots out on the course with the rough down and friendly pin-placements to aid the seniors in their concurrent tournament.
Fisher, who capitalised on some electrifying drives, made an early impact with his metronomic putter as he made a thrilling 30-footer for birdie on the first hole and he notched another birdie on the second.
The Englishman briefly surrendered the lead to Louis Oosthuizen when he air-mailed his tee shot on the par-three seventh over the green and dropped a shot.
Oosthuizen had put a superb shot to three feet from the hole on the previous par-three, the fourth, but the Open champion dug a hole for himself with a double-bogey on the par-four 11th hole and finished the day on one-under-par, five off Harrington's pace.
Three-time champion Ernie Els, making his return to Sun City after a three-year absence, lugged a cold putter around the Gary Player Country Club, putting himself in line for several birdie putts on the front nine but failing to convert any of them. He did birdie the two par-fives on the back nine as well as the par-four 15th, but a bogey on the last hole put him back in the queue as he finished on one-under-par, also five shots back.
Edoardo Molinari was also on one-under, which was a tremendous coup for the Italian as he had been three-over after three holes, while Spain's Miguel Angel Jiminez also threatened to depose Fisher and Harrington as he collected three birdies on the back nine, before bogeying the par-three 16th after finding the bunker behind the green to finish on three-under.
Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Anders Hansen sank a lengthy putt on the first for an early birdie, but then mixed three bogeys with three more birdies to finish on level-par alongside Retief Goosen. Tim Clark holds up the leaderboard on one-over-par, having taken a seven on the par-four sixth hole, but all 11 other golfers could still pose a strong challenge to Harrington.
Harrington, who has dropped to 22 in the world rankings, is obviously still struggling with aspects of his game as he made a hasty exit after his round to work out on the practice range, snubbing the media in the process.
Fisher, meanwhile, admitted that he would have felt he had sold himself short if he had finished any more than just a stroke behind the Irishman.
"Seventeen was disappointing and I was relieved to make that par putt on 18 because if I had finished on four-under, it would have felt like a 76 the way I played. To get eight birdies around here is pretty darn good, so I'm quietly satisfied," Fisher said.
Westwood was one-over-par after six holes and had to wait until the seventh for the first of his five birdies.
"It wasn't too bad, I made a slowish start, but then got a nice birdie on seven and was pretty solid coming in," Westwood said, before adding that the wind's propensity for swirling and dying down, on a day which saw a delay of nearly two hours for bad weather, had made for a tricky round.
"The toughest thing is that you're playing at altitude and the wind is swirling. You have to be sharp and able to make last-minute changes, it's a good thinker's course."
Nick Price and Jeff Sluman shot two-under-par 70s to lead the Nedbank Senior Challenge by one stroke from Fulton Allem.
