Rowan Lester and Liam Grehan are both inside the top 35 after the opening round of the Sunshine Tour’s FCB Zimbabwe Open at Royal Harare Golf Club in the nation’s capital.
Both Irishmen were out in the early groups, with Grehan playing four groups ahead. An eagle on the par-5 third, followed by a birdie on the fourth got him off to a flying start, but bogeys on nine, 12 and 14 dropped him back to level-par. He responded with back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 to end the day at two-under-par and tied for 35th.
Lester, making his season debut, also eagled the third, but he was back at level-par for the day through seven after a bogey there and another on four. He then reeled off three birdies in a row on eight, nine and 10, and traded two further birdies and bogeys on the way home to finish his round one stroke better than Grehan and tied for 20th at -3.
The provisional cutline sits at two-under, however, with 52 players on that number and better, meaning both Grehan and Lester will likely need to shoot rounds in the 60s to ensure that they have weekend tee times.
Chilean Tomas Gana made an eagle and six birdies in a seven-under 65 to take first round leader honours, with another Chilean, a German, an Australian, and three South Africans in a six-way tie for second at -6.
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