GOLF NEWS - Veteran Sunshine Tour player Wallie Coetsee used a veteran putter on Thursday on his way to an opening six-under-par 66 and a share of the first round of the 54-hole R750 000 Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate.

He shared the lead with American rookie Kyle Pilgrim, and they had a two-stroke edge over Doug McGuigan and Jacques Kruyswijk, who carded 68s. There was a group of six players a further shot back on 69.

“The putter is the one I used when I won my first tournament 20 years ago,” said Coetsee. “It’s a little Top Flite blade putter and I got my feel back. I made 26 putts today, and if you make putts, I think that’s the difference.”

He put the putter back into play during the recent seven-week break in the Sunshine Tour schedule ahead of the traditional ‘winter swing’ of tournaments.

“I took five weeks off completely and during the last two weeks before this, I took out all my old stuff – my old bag, my old putter that’s 24 years old, my old driver, my old three-wood – to get some confidence and I think it’s paid off,” he said. “They’re all still in the bag today. My caddie better have put the bag safely in the car, because nobody must pinch it now.”

Like Coetsee, Pilgrim made seven birdies and just a single bogey during his round. They both made bogey on the par-three seventh, which turned out to be the most difficult on the course in the opening round. “It was just a very tough pin position with the tee right back today,” said Pilgrim, “and by the time I reached there, the temperature had dropped and the wind was up.”

The man from the United States has played just three tournaments since earning his card at the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School, making the cut in two of them. He’s in South Africa for the next seven events. “I’m looking forward to making all my friends jealous with my posts on social media,” he added.

Coetsee, who has won twice on the Sunshine Tour in a quarter-century career, was pretty sure of what he had done right and what he needed to do for the rest of the tournament. “I think I’m the straightest off the tee on tour,” he said. “I hit about 84 percent of the fairways.

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