Westwood sparkles at Sun City

Defending champion Lee Westwood birdied the last hole to shoot a four-under 68 in South Africa’s Sun City yesterday and share the first-round lead with Masters winner Charl Schwartzel at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Westwood holed a putt from nearly 20 feet on the last for his fourth birdie on the opening day. The Englishman also had an eagle three and two bogeys.

Schwartzel also enjoyed a productive back nine at Gary Player Country Club, picking up five shots over seven holes coming home after reaching the turn at one over.

Luke Donald was the early leader on his return to competition after a five-week break, but a double-bogey six on the 17th gave him a 70 and a tie for fourth alongside five other players.

Robert Karlsson of Sweden was alone in third on three under after a 69. Simon Dyson, Martin Kaymer, Kyung-tae Kim, Graeme McDowell and Jason Dufner were all bunched together alongside Donald on two under. Just two shots separated the top ten players.

Most of the 12-man field at the $5 million invitational event struggled through the second nine after a brief rain shower, but Westwood and Schwartzel made late rallies to top the leaderboard.

“It was nice to hole that one at the last,” Westwood said. “I had it in the back of my mind that Charl was on four under and I wanted to be in the last group. I played lovely. Nice to make one putt at the last from about 18 feet because I hadn’t made any all day. But tee to green was brilliant.”