PORT ELIZABETH. 3 February 2015 – Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson put on a master class from tee to green to blaze his way into the first round lead in the South African Stroke Play Championship while Centurion pair Rosswell Sinclair and Andrew van der Knaap set the pace for the Gauteng North contingent at Port Elizabeth Golf Club on Tuesday.

Ferguson took advantage of the near-perfect conditions to conjure up a flawless seven-under-par 65 to finish atop a logjam leaderboard with a distinctly international flavour.

The 18-year-old Glaswegian leads by one from Ugo Coussaud of France and edged two strokes clear of 16-year-old Modderfontein junior Eric Wowor, who chipped in for a pair of eagles on his way to a share of third with Frenchman Jeremy Gandon on 67.

Sinclair and Van der Knaap claimed seats in the nine-man bus on two under 70 alongside Scotsmen Craig Ross and Scott Gibson, Irishman Gary Hurley, French amateur Alexandre Daydou and South Africans Daniel Mantel, Darin de Smidt and Michael-James Steyn.

Defending champion Jason Smith from Irene and Woodhill’s Philip Kruse finished a further stroke back, while James du Preez and Albert Venter signed off on even-par 72s.

FIRST ROUND SCORES – TOP 20
65 Ewen Ferguson SCO
66 Ugo Coussaud FRA
67 Eric Wowor; Jeremy Gandon FRA
68 Ian Snyman; Rupert Kaminski; Siegmund Human; Gavin Moynihan IRL; Cormac Sharvin IRL
69 Dylan Naidoo; Luke Trocado; Bryce McCabe; Daniel Young SCO; Johan Germishuys; Fezekile Kana; Kyle Barker; Marco Steyn
70 Daniel Mantel; Scott Gibson SCO; Darin de Smidt; Craig Ross SCO; Gary Hurley IRL; Andrew van der Knaap; Michael-James Steyn; Rosswell Sinclair; Alexandre Daydou FRA

View the full first round scores and follow live scoring at http://www.saga.co.za/