Amateurs shine at Player Invitational

Last updated: 29th November 2009

South African cricket legend Barry and businesswoman Sinead Kenny and professionals John Bland and Tjaart van der Walt led the alliance competition on the first day of the Gary Player Invitational presented by Coca-Cola at The Links at Fancourt on Saturday.

Richards posted three birdies to help his team take their first-round score to 16 under and move into a one-shot lead over the team of DJ Spoony, Al Naboodah, Thomas Aiken and Vincent Tshabalala.

"The Links is a fabulous course to play," enthused Richards afterwards

"I had three birdies out there, but also a few too many ups and downs in between. But it was just wonderful to see how the pros play this course."

Van Der Walt was particularly impressive. After turning at three under, the South African finished strong with four birdies in the final six holes, which also saw him and Bland lead the betterball competition for the professionals on 10 under and three strokes clear of the field.

"Tjaart played fantastic golf out there. I was just there to back him up every now and then,"said Bland.

"I think the fact that Vincent and I started off bogey, bogey helped a lot to show them (amateur DJ Spoony and Al Naboodah they had nothing to be nervous about. Certainly, the way I started I needed an ambulance. But our amateurs were great. They had some big shoulders out there as they carried us," said Aiken.

Spoony, who described almost hitting a cameraman as a minor obstacle in the round, praised Al Naboodah for getting their round going.

"Abdullah came out of the blocks great and I weighed in around the turn. Then Thomas finally woke up and took care of the back nine for us," he said of Aiken's four straight birdies on the second nine.

Reigning Masters champion Angel Cabrera and his team of Tony Johnstone, Dr Hasso Plattner and Sarah Stirk joined the teams of Garth Mulroy, Bertus Smit, Sir Clive Woodward and Dr Hans-Walters Peters, and Omar Sandys, Bill Longmuir, Kevin Curren and Scott DeSano in a group chasing the leaders on nine under.

Mulroy and Smit, and Cabrera and Johnstone are also chasing the betterball title at three strokes off the lead.

Tournament host Gary Player and his team of double US Open champion Retief Goosen, American businessman Hugh Connerty and musician Ard Matthews struggled on the first day.

They finished the round at one under in the alliance, while Goosen and Player are seven strokes off the lead in the betterball competition. And according to Matthews, the Major champions were simply "intimidated" by his own imperious form on the day.

"I think I was just so intimidating that they lost their game faces. Seriously though, I'd rather sing in front of 20 000 people than handle the pressure of playing golf with Major champions. Gary says I need an hour of practice a day before I get a swing even close to anything good."