Colsaerts, Haas share NGC lead

Last updated: 29th November 2012

Belgium's Ryder Cup hero Nicolas Colsaerts and American Bill Haas are the overnight leaders after both carded first round 70s at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

On day of tough scoring on the long par 72 Sun City course, no player managed to shoot in the 60s as the entire field struggled to keep their approaches on the fairways.

Haas seemed to cope best with the tricky conditions initially and moved clear on four-under with three holes remaining, but bogeys at the 16th and 18th saw him fall back into a tie of the lead with Colsaerts.

The Belgian was even par after a conservative opening nine during which he carded a single birdie and bogey. He then birdied the 10th and 11th and fired six consecutive pars to end level with Haas.

Defending champions Lee Westwood, who is bidding to become the first player to win thrice consecutively at Sun City, is one shot further back alongside former Open champion Paul Lawrie and top-ranked South African Louis Oosthuizen.

Westwood carded birdies at three of the par fives, but had bogeys at the fourth and 12th, where he missed a short putt for par.

Former world number one Martin Kaymer had a mixes round of 72, which included five brides as well as five bogeys. Level with the German is Charl Schwartzel, Carl Pettersson, Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson, all in a tie for sixth place.

Justin Rose, the new world number four, sits in 11th after shooting a hat-trick of bogeys which took him from two-under to one over, although he isn't out of contention yet, being only four strokes behind the leaders.

The lowest ranked player in the field, Garth Mulroy, had a decent round but was set back by two double bogeys in his three-over round of 75.