Practice makes perfect, right? Well, Daniel Brown proved that couldn’t be further from the truth as he made light of his “worst preparation for a golf tournament” by producing a sensational start to the SDC Championship.
The Englishman was a late arrival in South Africa on Wednesday afternoon after initially missing a flight from Frankfurt on Monday, leaving no time for meaningful practice at St Francis Links.
But that made no impact on Brown as he carded a brilliant six-under-par 66 on Thursday to briefly set the early clubhouse pace, before being overtaken by home hope Pieter Moolman.
“It’s been the worst preparation for a golf tournament I think I have ever had and [yet] I played really nice," said Brown.
"It just goes to show it is a silly game. You can prepare for two, three, four days and you think you have cracked it… It was a bit of a whirlwind of a 48 hours to say the least."
Brown, who won his maiden DP World Tour title in Northern Ireland last season, mixed three birdies with one bogey on his outward nine.
Three birdies in a four-hole stretch after the turn followed, including a chip-in at the 11th, before he made a seventh birdie of his day at the par-three 17th.
“It was good, I played really solid," he reflected. "I missed a couple of short putts on 7 and 8 and then from there that was when my round kind of got going I suppose.
"I just played really solid, didn’t do much wrong. When I did put myself in a bit of a sticky spot, I managed to get up and down.
“It was still windy, but definitely when we got to the back nine it seemed to pick up a lot. When you stand on that 15th tee box and it is just pumping straight into you it, you could feel it those last 3, 4 holes."
Brown comes into the first of back-to-back co-sanctioned DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour events in South Africa with good memories of his last visit to the Eastern Cape.
The 29-year-old finished in the top 10 last year as countryman Matthew Baldwin lifted the title and believes he can challenge for his second piece of DP World Tour silverware this week.
“I do [feel comfortable around here]. I liked it last year," he said.
"I had a top 10 so I came here with good memories.
"I just like the place to be honest, it is a beautiful place. The golf course is great.
"Obviously the wind tends to get up, which being English I am kind of used to it so I don’t mind if it blows a bit."
