Galway’s Liam Nolan continued his dream start to the season on the HotelPlanner Tour when he opened with a tidy three-under 69 in the C Cell Cape Town Open in association with Honor.

The Barna golfer (24) finished his opening round just two shots off the clubhouse lead after he overcame windy conditions at Royal Cape and followed a bogey at the 13th (his fourth) with birdies at the 16th, 18th, first and seventh.

South Africa’s Justin Walters and Spain’s Borja Virto carded five-under 67s to lead by one stroke in the clubhouse from Malcolm Mitchell with Nolan tied for fourth.

“Very happy again,” said Nolan, who finished third in the SDC Open and fourth in last week’s MyLife Open hosted by Pecanwood Estate to lie second in the Road to Mallorca standings with the top 20 at the end of the season awarded DP World Tour cards.

“I played some lovely golf today in tough conditions. It's a tight golf course with a lot of wind, so it was a case of just plugging away, trying to make as many pars as possible, and hopefully a few putts drop, and they did today.”

A fresh breeze made for demanding conditions at tight Royal Cape, but that was meat and drink to a player who is playing with great confidence after back-to-back top-five finishes allowed him to claim his place in the field this week despite not having status on the second tier tour.

“It was more playing like at home out there,” said Nolan. “Now it's just keep the ball flight as close to the ground as you can; don't really let the ball up and take your time, especially in the wind as it picks up.”

As for the course, he said: “It's so different. All three courses we've played out here have been so different. But if you hit it straight and you're tidy around the greens out here, it's a gettable course for sure.”

Nolan failed to qualify for the Final Stage of last year’s DP World Tour Qualifying School by just one stroke, but he’s taking full advantage of his opportunities.

He received invitations from the Golf Ireland Professional Scheme into the first two events but only needed to use the first of them after finishing third to Daniel Van Tonder in the SDC Open in Limpopo.

Top five finishes are required to earn spots in subsequent co-sanctioned events on the Sunshine Tour, but after pulling that feat off last week, he’s not yet thinking about what he has to do to earn another top five this week and a spot in next week’s NTT Data Pro-Am at Fancourt.

“I felt confident, but I had no massive expectations coming into the weeks out here,” he said of his lightning-fast start to 2025. “In the first couple of tournaments of the year, you see how you play, see if there's anything you need to work on and fix it quickly early in the season.

“But I've been really enjoying it, playing really nicely, and hopefully it continues.”

As for notching another top-five this week, he said it wasn’t on his mind.

“Certainly not yet, maybe coming down the last two holes on Sunday, if I'm in that position.

“I'm just going to try and keep as close to the top of the leaderboard as I can for the first three days and see where I'm sitting on Sunday.”

Clandeboye’s Jonathan Caldwell shot a level par 72, but Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy has his work cut out to avoid a third successive missed cut.

The Dubliner went out in level par but covered the front nine, his last nine holes, in 42, finishing with a double-bogey six for a 78.

Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy was among the later starters.