Two Share Lead in Tshwane Open


Denmark's Morten Ørum Madsen and England's David Horsey both opened with 7-under 63s to share the first-round lead in the Tshwane Open. The European Tour event got underway Thursday at the par-70 Pretoria Golf Club in South Africa.

Beginning play on the 10th tee, the 26-year-old Madsen, who attended college at Oregon State, had four birdies and a bogey through 16 holes. But then the fireworks went off as Madsen aced the par-3 eighth (his 17th hole) and got another eagle on the par-5 ninth to go 4-under at the end of his round.

Horsey's round wasn't nearly as dramatic as Madsen's, as the 29-year-old posted seven birdies. The two players are a stroke ahead of Australia's Brett Rumford and South African Wallie Coetsee.

"That was fantastic," Madsen told the European Tour's website of his final two holes. "The last couple of weeks I've been hitting some shots really close and I actually said to my caddie last week that a hole in one is on the cards pretty soon.

"Luckily for me it came today. I hit a fantastic shot, I couldn't hit it better, and it spun back into the hole. That was only my second hole in one and it's really special to have one in competition on The European Tour.

"When you stand on the next tee you're pretty pumped and confident. I succeeded in gathering my thoughts and hit a really nice drive and then a great second shot and then sank it, which was a fantastic way to finish," Madsen added. "It was the kind of thing you dream about, but don't expect. Today was a great day and I had a lot of fun out there. I've found something in my game that's working and I've been pretty consistent."

"This place demands a bit more than just long -hitting," noted Horsey, who also started his round on the 10th. "It's nice to play golf courses that make you think a bit more than just taking driver on every tee. I plotted my way around, because it's very much a positional golf course. On the whole I'm very pleased with today's work."

Trailing by two are three South Africans - Dean Burmester, Keith Horne and Merrick Bremner - along with France's Raphael Jacquelin.

Defending champion Ross Fisher of England opened with a 69, and 2013 winner Dawie van der Walt of South Africa had a 67.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015018/leaderboard/index.html.