Conor Purcell got 2024 off to a hot start when he fired an eagle and four birdies in a five-under 67 to lie just a shot off the lead in the Challenge Tour’s Bain’s Whisky Cape Town Open.

Scores

Starting on the back nine at a windy Royal Cape, the Portmarnock star (26) eagled the 11th and birdied the 12th, 16th and 18th to turn in five-under 31, then followed a bogey at the par-five fifth with a birdie four at the seventh to end the day tied for third.

He finished the day in a six-way tie for third with just one stroke behind England’s Bradley Bawden and Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen in the Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned event, who shot 66.

“It was pleasant to start off that way,” Purcell said. “This is my first event of the year, not really knowing what's going to come after the winter break and got off to a nice start.

“I gave myself plenty of chances and made plenty of birdies on the front nine, which was the back nine. And then the actual front nine got quite tricky out there. It got a bit windy coming in, so good score.”

Purcell tied for seventh in Cape Town last year and used that experience to plot his way around.

“I just kept it in position off the tee,” he said. “I remember from last year, keeping in position off the tee was key here. So I gave myself plenty of looks inside 20 feet and the putter was hot as well. So it's good.

“You can't really overpower it. You just have to keep it in play and be smart off certain tee boxes. There are a couple you can't hit driver on and for the most part, I did a good job today.

“Hitting from this grass off the fairway, you have quite a lot of control over the ball. But the minute you hit it off the fairway, it's just so hard to tell what it's going to do.”

He found the wind particularly coming home but after starting well, he’s hoping to repeat the trick in round two.

“It was just it was bizarre,” he said of the breeze. “You couldn't tell, it was so extreme. Some holes it felt into the wind when it was actually downwind and vice versa.

“So just getting a handle on what it was doing was the hardest part. If I can do the same tomorrow, I will be happy out.”

Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell (39) shrugged off a case of tennis elbow and surprised himself by carding a two-under 70 to share 36th as Dermot McElroy’s 71 left him 54th on one-under.

“It was a bit scrappy really,” Caldwell said. “I didn't play particularly great. I holed a couple of nice putts. I was shaking off a bit of winter rust, so I'm quite pleased with it to be honest.

“The winter was busy with not a lot of golf with the weather being so poor. I had things to do like moving houses and things like that, so not a whole lot of golf and then a little injury meant I had all off January off again, so no golf. So I was quite surprised to shoot under par to be honest.

“I have a little bit of tennis elbow so I'm still dealing with it, but a few anti-inflammatories and ice-packs in the afternoon seem to be helping it anyway. Touch wood, it's not going to be too much trouble.”

Like Purcell, Caldwell plotted his away around cleverly  in the morning wave as he mixed five birdies with three bogeys.

“I didn't get too greedy,” he said. “I missed a few fairways and took my medicine from there and like I say, I holed a couple of nice putts that kept the momentum going in the right direction. That's really was the key.

“Off the tee is quite demanding. You've got to be straight. Now, we were lucky there was not a lot of wind today. I've played this course in the wind and it's  very tough off the tee.

“So it's about finding fairways. From there you can score. If you miss fairways, you're chipping out sideways or trying to get something up around the greens.”

Mark Power began his 2024 campaign in the windier afternoon wave and was pleased to chisel out a 72 for 84th place after his winter break.

“Very rusty competitively,” Power said. “I haven't played in a while. The last time I competed was in Australia back in November, so it was a bit of a struggle, to be honest.

“But I grinded it well. I just found the wind was quite gusty, and I was struggling a little bit, so it was tricky, but hopefully, a better one tomorrow.”

The Kilkenny man (23) made two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine before reeling off nine straight pars to finish.

|I found a really gusty in the afternoon and the greens definitely firmed up,” he said. “There were a lot of back flags, so if you land up there, you're going to skip through them with how firm the greens got.

“So it was definitely tricky to be aggressive. So there were a lot of pars for me. I parred every hole on the back nine here, so it's hard.

“I obviously wanted to make a few birdies. But look, it's tricky for us. I really like it actually. So hopefully I will be better tomorrow.”

Like Caldwell and Purcell, he sees finding fairways as the key to success this week.

“I actually struggled on the front nine off the tee,” he said. “I wasn't finding the fairways. I was kind of scrappy and I made a couple of birdies, luckily.

:I holed a  bunker shot on one hole and I don't know how I birdied it. But if you're in play, you're going to have chances.

“At the same time, they haven't been too generous with the pins. To be fair, there were some good scores this morning. Hopefully, I can try and do that in the morning tomorrow.”

West Waterford’s Gary Hurley was out in the tougher conditions late in the day and mixed four birdies with five bogeys and a triple bogey seven at the third in a 76 that left him tied 144th in the 156-man field.