Staff WriterIf the weather tried to put a lid on the NTT DATA Men’s Pro-Am, Zimbabwe’s Benjamin Follett-Smith responded by ripping the whole thing clean off. With one day of the tournament already lost to the elements, Follett-Smith stormed around Fancourt’s Outeniqua course in a frankly scandalous 12-under-par 60 to seize the early lead in this Sunshine Tour and HotelPlanner Tour co-sanctioned event—no dropped shots, no mercy, and a closing act that read like fiction: a back nine of 29.
He’s three clear of South Africa’s JJ Senekal, who posted a sharp 63 on the same Outeniqua layout. South African Gerhard Pepler and Ireland’s Max Kennedy sit third after matching 7-under 65s, also on Outeniqua, while South African legend Ernie Els opened with a 69 on the course.
“It’s my lowest on the Sunshine Tour for sure, and it’s tied my best score,” Follett-Smith said.
A round that didn’t blink once—and nearly flirted with 59
A 60 is always a headline. A bogey-free 60 is a chorus line. A bogey-free 60 that nearly turns into a 59 because the man doing the scoring can’t quite believe what he’s witnessing? That’s the kind of day you bottle, label, and hide from your future self for a rainy one.
Follett-Smith’s momentum built as the round unfolded, helped by conditions that demanded a little recalibration—especially on greens softened and slowed by the relentless rain.
“Usually things go your way when you’re that low. I left a few putts short starting the round and figured out the greens are slower than what we’re used to here from all the rain. I got the hang of just pitching at the flag and taking advantage of how well I’m playing tee to green. I could be very aggressive from the fairway.”
And aggressive he was—like a man who’d just been told the pro shop had run out of scorecards and he had to finish quickly.
Then came the moment every golfer both dreams about and dreads: the late-round arithmetic.
“I honestly thought I was 11 under with the last hole to play. Unfortunately we added up wrong. So the 59 didn’t work out, but it’s okay because the whole day worked out in the end.”
Somewhere, every amateur who has ever “shot 82” and later discovered it was “a breezy 89” just nodded solemnly in solidarity.
Outeniqua delivers again—and Follett-Smith knows the assignment
The early leaderboard tells a familiar story at Fancourt: the best numbers arrived on Outeniqua, traditionally the most generous of the resort’s courses during this event. Senekal’s 63, Pepler’s 65, Kennedy’s 65—proof that if you’re going to go low this week, you’d rather do it on the course that’s more likely to hand you a receipt and say, thank you for shopping.
Follett-Smith didn’t just accept the invitation—he brought a highlighter.
“You want to take as much as you can from Outeniqua. Wilco (Nienaber) did that last year when he won so I took a page out of his book and luckily it worked out for me.”
In the context of the NTT DATA Men’s Pro-Am, that’s not just smart strategy—it’s survival. When weather steals a day, the tournament effectively tightens its grip. Fewer holes, fewer chances, more urgency. Outeniqua becomes the place you either cash in… or spend the rest of the week trying to win back what you left out there.
The engine room: driver dialled, irons obedient, confidence leaking onto the greens
What made Thursday’s demolition particularly ominous for everyone else was how complete it looked. This wasn’t a “putter got hot” round stitched together with prayers and lucky bounces. It was built from the ground up—driving, shaping, approach play, and the sort of putting confidence that tends to spread like gossip.
“Tee to green is really good at the moment. My driver is really good and I’m getting exactly what I want out of it. Fade, draw or straight – it’s all on call at the moment, which is nice. And that becomes confidence on the greens. The five footers became inside rights and inside lefts, which worked out.”
When a player says the ball is doing what he asks—fade, draw, straight—what he really means is: I’m currently in possession of the remote control.
What it means for the rest of the week
A three-shot lead in a tournament with weather already meddling is the golfing equivalent of finding dry socks at halftime: deeply comforting and slightly miraculous. But the NTT DATA Men’s Pro-Am will still demand a full kit. Outeniqua may have offered the softer landing, yet the rest of Fancourt is rarely in the mood for charity.
For now, though, Follett-Smith has done exactly what you’re supposed to do when the opportunity arrives—he took it, wrung it out, and hung it on the leaderboard for everyone to stare at.
And he did it in 60. Bogey-free. After losing a day to the weather.
That’s not making up for lost time.
That’s stealing it back.
