By Michael Vlismas.
Caption: Travis Procter. (Photo Credit: Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour).
Kigali (Rwanda) – Sunshine Tour rookie Travis Procter and the experienced Nikhil Rama share the lead after the first round of the inaugural Rwanda Open following their opening rounds of nine-under-par 63 at the Kigali Golf Resort & Villas on Thursday.
They are one shot clear of Graham van der Merwe who dropped only one shot in his opening round of 64.
Procter made good use of an early start and rolled in seven birdies in nine holes from the fourth through to the 12th hole.
“It’s just one of those rounds where everything kind of worked. I got off to a slowish start and then I made a couple of putts that carried on the momentum. I told my girlfriend that I wasn’t going to slow down – I just wanted to keep firing. It’s her first time on the bag and it’s a lot of fun. We are having a good time,” Procter said.
He bogeyed the par-three 13th hole but then closed with three birdies over the last four holes that included a chip-in three on the par-four 18th hole.
“The chip-in on the last hole is always nice. All in all I am very happy with the day,” a delighted Procter said.
Rama has been knocking on the door for a maiden Sunshine Tour title for a while now. With four top-10 finishes so far this season that includes being runner up at the Sunbet Challenge Wild Coast tournament in August, he is once again in the running for a title.
After making par on the opening hole, Rama started a run of five birdies in a row and later rolled in four more birdies in a bogey-free round. Altin van der Merwe, Jason Roets, Ryan van der Kils and Jaden Deltel are all well-placed on seven under par.