van Zyl takes early Turkey lead

South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl carded a sensational 11-under-par 61 on Thursday to lead the Turkish Airlines Open.

The 36-year-old, who started his opening round on the back nine, eagled the par-five 11th and birdied another five holes to move to -7 after the first nine holes.

It was more of the same on the front part of the course as the 13-time Sunshine Tour winner picked up another four strokes to build a three-shot lead at the top of the standings.

Van Zyl, who is still searching for a maiden triumph on the European circuit, was delighted with his display but admits he never dreamed of posting such a good score.

“I played really nicely and honestly I thought four under par around here was a good score,” he said. I got it going early in the round and just kept it going. It was really good fun.”

Englishman Lee Westwood is the closest challenger in second place after the Ryder Cup legend shot an eight-under 64 to get to -8 for the competition.

Compatriot Chris Wood is a further two strokes behind after five birdies, an eagle and just the one bogey helped him to -6, while former world number one Rory McIlroy is in a seven-way tie for fourth on -5.

Tagged Chris Wood, Jaco Van Zyi, Lee Westwood