24-year old Tim Clark opened
the lead at the Gary Player Country Club with a 6-under-par 66 today, during
the first round of the Dimension Data Pro-Am 2000 held at Sun City.
Clark earned his eligibility
as an affiliate member of the Vodacom Tour, through his Top 50 finish on the
1999 Nike Tour Final Order of Merit. He credits his low score today to driving
the fairways accurately and some solid putting.
"I missed only one fairway
today on hole three, where my drive ended in the right fairway bunker. I also
only missed one putt all day. My longest putt of the day was 15 feet.", says
Clark. " I must admit I had a lot of birdie opportunities, but did not capitalise
on them. It is very nice to have your nose in front on the first day. It does
give one quite a measure of confidence."
As an amateur, Clark won
various tournaments on the South African amateur circuit, but his biggest accomplishment
was winning the US Public Links in 1997. Clark played 4 tournaments on the Canadian
Tour in 1998 and went on to win two of these, the New Brunswick Open and the
Canadian PGA Open.
He holds an all time Canadian
Tour record with a 27-under par 261, set in the New Brunswick Open. This earned
him a 3 year exemption on the Canadian Tour. Last year Clark played the Nike
Tour and finished 46th on the final Money List. His best finish was a 3rd, with
which he has kept his card for next year.
England's Lee Westwood carded a round of 68 (6-under-par) to tie the 2nd place with Tour School graduate,
Paddy Gribben from Ireland. Gribben came through the Vodacom Tour School in January,
where he had a 6th place finish. This is Gribben first tournament on the summer
leg and he went about it in style.
Playing on the Lost City
Golf Course, Gribben had 5 birdies and 1 bogey. Although he is suffering from
the flu, he is ecstatic to be playing. He wants to make this tournament count.
Lee Westwood, who knows the Gary Player Country club well, found the course easy
to play, but said he felt frustrated by the wind and mud on the course. He will
tee it up on the Lost City Golf Course tomorrow.
