Eugenio Chacarra (-9) has delivered a significant performance on the opening day of the Alfred Dunhill Championship. The Madrid golfer has recorded the best round of his career on the DP World Tour and has broken the course record of the East Course at the Royal Johannesburg Club by two strokes. He hasn’t just broken the bank, he’s shattered it. Needless to say, he is the sole leader of the tournament pending the completion of the afternoon session.
Chacarra’s round started off on the right foot. Surely spurred on by his sister’s success in the LPGA Tour Qualifying School Final, Eugenio got underway in South Africa with two birdies in his first two holes. From there, the round cooled off. A bogey fell on the 15th, and it seemed that the initial momentum had been lost. Nothing could be further from the truth. The turning point came a little later. A four-under stretch between holes 17 and 1. The sequence was birdie-eagle-birdie. Sensational.
What seemed like a stalled round suddenly reignited and wouldn’t stop. He signed four more birdies on holes 3, 6, 8, and 9 for that exceptional final score of 63 strokes. This improves on the 64 that had been his best result on the DP World Tour, achieved last year in the second round of the Italian Open. Chacarra has adapted wonderfully to the heavy and receptive conditions of the Johannesburg course.
The top of the leaderboard has filled with heavyweights of South African golf. Accompanying Chacarra are Branden Grace (-7), Oliver Bekker (-6), Aldrich Potgieter (-5), Dean Burmester (-5), and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-5). The music sounds good. Always on top at home. They don’t fail.
Also breaking into the top 10 with a total of -5 is the Extremaduran Jorge Campillo. A good start for the Norba golfer. He has signed five birdies without a mistake, with that special satisfaction that rounds without a bogey bring. Similarly, under-par cards have been delivered by Sebas García (-2), confirming he is going through a sweet moment in his game, Iván Cantero (-1), and Nacho Elvira (-1). Further back, and needing to react this Friday to avoid missing the cut, are Quim Vidal and Ángel Hidalgo, both with a score of PAR. They haven’t been bad rounds, but the birdie pace on this opening day is very high, and par feels like very little.
