The first day of the Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open ends with a Tapio PulkKanen who starts as leader at Royal Cape. The Finn starts with a great 66 that puts him at the head of the tournament along with the Englishman Bradley Badwen.
Pulkkanen comes from a difficult year on the DP World Tour in which he finished the season in 127th place and therefore lost the rights to play the full year on the circuit. The Finn’s goal is none other than to return as soon as possible to the first division of European golf and the Challenge route, although perhaps not the shortest to arrive, is a route that he knows well and with very good memories as he was the winner of the circuit back in 2017. The first and only Finn to achieve it. Precisely since that year when Pulkannen managed to win the Open of Kazakhstan, the Nordic does not taste the honeys of victory again. For now, Tapio begins to build that return road with a solid first round of six under par without blemishes on the account, four birdies and an eagle. Step by step.
The hole three of Royal Cape stands out on this first day. No player from the morning shift has been able to beat the very long par four of 450 meters and only five players have achieved it throughout the day. More than a third of the participants have been defeated by a hole that gets very complicated if you do not hit a bomb with surgical precision to the center right of the street. The trees on the left prevent any possibility of birdie and a lake on the right and a bunker just before the green on the left side defend the hole tooth and nail. As said, a very complicated hole.
On the part of the Spaniards, timid start of the Armada in this second tournament in South Africa although that yes, still with aspirations to everything in the second tournament of the season. The best placed Spaniards on the table are Joel Moscatel and Quim Vidal who with 70 strokes in the first day are placed in 54th place. The head is not far away at all, only four strokes away, but they cannot be distracted too much as right now only two strokes separate them from the tournament cut.
For his part, Ángel Ayora has made a good comeback after starting three over par in the first six holes and has closed the day tied with the field. Along with the Andalusian, Borja Virto (PAR), Alejandro Cañizares (+1), Lucas Vacarisas (+2) and Víctor Pastor (+2) must sign a good second day if they want to continue in contention over the weekend.
Last year’s champion, Benjamin Follett-Smith starts with a solid three under par while the winner in 2022 and 2021 JC Ritchie has finished with a stroke over the field.
