Van Heerden put his home course advantage to great use on the back nine and was flushed with excitement after pushing one shot clear of West and Spacey with a four-under-par 68.
“This is only my second start this season, so I’m pretty stoked with the result,” said the 33-year-old owner of Just Alex Catering.
“I had a couple of three-putts on the front nine and I missed a great birdie chance at 14, so it could have been better, but it’s great to be in a strong position so early in the tournament.”
West overcame a bogey start with a birdie at six and the Glendower player notched further gains at 12, 13 and 18 to set the early clubhouse target. Spacey lost the advantage of a birdie at the third when he dropped the short fifth, but the Dainfern golfer joined West in front with a trio of birdies at seven, eight and nine.
The pair led the field for most of day until the chef whipped up some late afternoon excitement.
“I made a birdie start, but the nerves got the better of me and I dropped at the fourth,” he said. “I’ve been playing mainly social golf and I haven’t played Wingate in a while and the greens were very hard and fast and tricky. It took me a couple of holes just to settle and get into a rhythm.”
Van Heerden said he was rushing through the turn and I got too fancy with his approach at 10.
“I hit the tee shot left into the bush,” he said. “I wanted to leave the ball short of the green, but I went in too hard; holed a great putt for bogey, though.
“At the 12th, I had 130 metres in and the hole was downwind, so I hit a low wedge in and made the putt for birdie. I hit a huge drive down the 13th fairway and had 205 metres to the flag. I hit a low five-iron to eight feet and boxed the putt for eagle. That got the blood pumping again.”
The Wingate Park player left his birdie putt just short of the cup at 14 and had to rally to save par at 15, but he joined West and Spacey in the lead when he holed a birdie putt at 16.
“I actually hit that putt pretty hard, so it was a bit of a relief when it dropped,” he said. “I hit a bit of a wild drive at 18. I had 110 metres in and struck a sand-wedge perfectly. It landed two feet from the hole and I boxed the birdie putt for the lead.”
Van Heerden spent a season on the Sunshine Tour 10 years ago, but didn’t keep his card, so he launched his catering company.
“I gave Q-School another bash in 2009, but missed by one shot,” he said. “I had a few more tries, but I bombed out, so I focussed on building the business instead. But there is always that little voice that whispers ‘what if, so I’m going to give it one last stab this year, with my wife’s blessing. To take the lead in my second IGT Tour event is a great confidence builder and hopefully I can keep it going.”
Van Heerden will need his A-game to keep former IGT Tour winner West and Spacey at bay, while three-time Sunshine Tour winner Danie van Tonder lurks just three off the pace.
First Round Scores
All competitors RSA unless otherwise specified and amateurs indicated as AMA
68 - Alex Van Heerden AMA
69 - Rhys West, Matthew Spacey
71 - Danie van Tonder, David McIntyre AMA, Ockert Strydom, Jonathan Waschefort, Morne Buys
72 - Albert Visser AMA, Phillip Kruse AMA, Juan Swart, Paul de Beer, Hendrikus Stoop AMA, Damian Naicker, Christiaan Jonck
73 - Andrew Plint AMA, Kyle Barker AMA, Michael Kok AMA, Gary Daoust AMA (BEL), Bonita Bredenhann (NAM), Divan Marais, Dean Martin AMA, Keanu Pestana AMA, Matthew Vogel, Johary Raveloarison (MDG)
74 - Hayden Griffiths AMA, Ruan Korb AMA, Pieter Cooper AMA, Dwayne Coetzee, Andrew Carlsson AMA, Arno Pretorius AMA, Marco de Beer AMA, Stephan de Beer
75 - Quintin Crause AMA, Angelo Marques AMA, Michael Schutz, Wayne du Toit, Pieter Muller AMA, Matt Wollmann AMA (ZIM), Clinton Grobler, David Nortje AMA, Ruan Potgieter AMA
76 - Ruan Conradie AMA, Eric Nel AMA, Xander Basson AMA, Teagan Moore AMA, Juan Pierre Cooper AMA, Fanie Wolmarans AMA, Martin Kraft AMA
77 - Theunis Bezuidenhout AMA, JP Schmidt AMA, Hilton Hughes AMA, Ruhan Van Dijk AMA
78 - Gareth Anderson AMA, Gregg Blainey (ENG), Bradley Diggeden AMA, Duan Nagel AMA, Werner Lourens, Romano Saincic, Matt Bright, Brendan Britten (NAM)
79 - Nico du Buisson AMA, Shaun van Tonder, Nicklas van Wyk AMA, Zander Potgieter, Adriel Poonan AMA, Pieter Woest
80 - Haydn Driver AMA, Walter Behr AMA, Leon Visser AMA, Mark Bright, Quintin Wilsnach AMA
81 - Tommie Brits AMA, Anthony Serrao AMA (POR), Jordan Parsons AMA, Adriaan Vorster, Jason Thalrose
AMA
82 - Stephane van Neer AMA (COD), Jason Ackerman AMA83 - Ricky Hendler AMA
84 - WM Coetzee AMA, Paulo Serrao AMA (POR)
85 - Jacques de Villiers AMA, Charles Grobler AMA
86 - Tobie de Haas
87 - Liam Bezuidenhout AMA, Gustav Erasmus
88 - Roelof van Tonder AMA
92 - Hanro Booysen
93 - Dean du Plessis AMA
N/R - Sam Metcalfe AMA
RTD - Estiaan Conradie AMA
ARTICLE: LALI STANDER
