The Wingate Park Country Club was a worthy test for the majority of the field on a windy day in Pretoria on Wednesday, but a trio of golfers in JC Ritchie, James Hart du Preez and Luca Filippi managed to shoot 67s to share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the SunBet Challenge Time Square.

Du Preez set the tone in the morning with a tremendous bogey-free round, with Ritchie and Filippi then matching him with their own five-under-par rounds in the afternoon as the wind stiffened.

Ritchie, a 10-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, was back on home fairways after campaigning in Europe, and started superbly with five birdies on the front nine. But he bogeyed the par-four 10th to cede some momentum, and came home in level-par after a birdie on the par-five 15th.

Filippi started with a bogey on the par-four first hole, but recovered with three birdies on the front nine and then finished strongly with three birdies over the last five holes.

As much as the power game dominates at present, Ritchie does not believe that the big hitters will necessarily be at an advantage in this R2 million event that ends on Friday.

“The par-fives allow the longer hitters to really take advantage and there could be lots of eagles coming up, but the rest of the course is really set up for guys who hit the ball straight,” Ritchie said.

“I hit the ball really solid and only missed two greens all day. It was nice to get something going on the front nine and I made some nice putts. I thought I played brilliantly on the back nine too. I like it so it was strange not to score well, but I don’t know what happened to my putter, so I lost a bit of momentum.”

Ritchie was also relishing being back home.

“It feels good to be back home, although it’s a bit strange playing on ‘my’ grass again. I always seem to do quite well after long breaks,” Ritchie said.

Further down the leaderboard, Heinrich Bruiners finds himself in contention for the second week in succession following an opening 69.

SCORES:

67 – James Hart du Preez, JC Ritchie, Luca Filippi
68 – Jaco Van Zyl, Ryan Van Velzen, Malcolm Mitchell
69 – Heinrich Bruiners, Jake Roos, Fredrik From, Rhys West, Adriel Poonan, Marcel Steyn Scholtz, Jaco Prinsloo
70 – Matthew Spacey, Jacques Blaauw, Louis Albertse, Yurav Premlall, Ruan Korb, Danie Van Niekerk, Stuart Krog, Martin Rohwer, Jean Hugo, Gerhard Trytsman, Robin Williams, Tyron Davidowitz
71 – Trevor Fisher Jnr, Matias Calderon, Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Allister de Kock, Keelan Africa, Jason Smith, Anthony Michael, Jonathan Broomhead, Aneurin Gounden
72 – Peter Karmis, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Robson Chinhoi, Martin Vorster, Jack Hawksby, Quintin Wilsnach, Keagan Thomas, Leon Visser, Keegan Mclachlan, Ethan Smith, Rupert Kaminski, Daniel van Tonder, James Mack, Madalitso Muthiya, Jared Harvey, Estiaan Conradie, Willie Olivier
73 – Gregory Mckay, Riekus Nortje, Pierre Pellegrin, Kyle McClatchie, Hayden Griffiths, Jacques P de Villiers, Wynand Dingle, DK Kim, Dayne Moore, Callum Mowat, Franklin Manchest, Ricky Hendler, Jason Roets, Brandon Smith, Ulrich van den Berg, Dan Erickson, Toto Thimba Jnr, Hennie O’Kennedy, Hennie Otto, Luke Jerling, Sean Bradley, Michael Kok, LB Boshoff
74 – James Pennington, Christiaan Basson, Gerhard Pepler, Ruan de Smidt, Lyle Rowe, Erhard Lambrechts, Jonathan Waschefort, Keelan van Wyk
75 – Nikhil Rama, Jovan Rebula, Michael Hollick, Ruan Conradie, Vaughn van Deventer, Adam Breen, Hunter Epson, Wade Jacobs
76 – Omar Sandys, Richard Joubert, Alphius Kelapile, Siyanda Mwandla, Alex Haindl, Thriston Lawrence, Kyle Barker, Pieter Moolman, Sentanio Minnie, Steve Surry, Chris Cannon, Mandla Dlamini Jnr
77 – Thabang Simon, Nicholaus Frade, Makhetha Mazibuko, Deon Germishuys, Karabo Mokoena, Luke Trocado, Drikus Joubert, Clancy Waugh
78 – Mutahi Kibugu, Jacquin Hess, Sean Cronje, Merrick Bremner, CJ du Plessis, Travis Ladner, Tristin Galant, Jastice Mashego, Combrinck Smit, Luke Brown
79 – Albert Venter, David Wicks, Reinhardt Blaauw, Rourke van der Spuy
80 – Ryan Tipping
81 – Irvin Mazibuko, Sipho Bujela, Jake Redman
82 – Christiaan Burke, Slenda Sithebe
85 – Nyasha Muyambo
88 – Gerard Moodley

(Photo by Tyrone Winfield/Sunshine Tour)