[PHOTO: Johan Rynners]
Even among the best golfers in the world, it’s not that unusual to see a huge discrepancy in scores between two rounds. Rory McIlroy’s 63-80 at the 2010 Open at the Old Course comes to mind. Or John Daly’s 63-86 in Las Vegas a couple of years later. But it’s a lot less common to see such a turnaround in reverse.
Such was the case, however, on the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly the Challenge Tour) this week. Sebastien Gros, a two-time winner on the tour and a former DP World Tour player, must have felt like he had hit a career low when he signed for an opening 80 at the Cell C Cape Town Open. But hours later he posted the round of his life.
In a remarkable bounce-back, the 35-year-old Frenchman fired a second-round 60, besting his opening-round score by a stunning 20 shots and breaking the course record at Royal Cape Golf Club. Have a look at his wild scorecard from both rounds:
Not exactly a ho-hum four-under through 36 holes, huh? After making a lone birdie in the first round, he nearly birdied every hole on the front nine a day later. And after failing to break 80, he nearly broke 60 the next day. Again, “that’s golf,” but that’s also particularly insane.
20-shot swing 🤯
Sébastien Gros follows his opening round of 80 with a course-record 12 under 60 on day 2!#CapeTownOpen
— HotelPlanner Tour (@HPlanner_Tour) February 7, 2025
Despite the brutal start, Gros comfortably made the cut thanks to his blistering second round, moving up more than 130 spots on the leaderboard on Friday. So what can we expect from Sebastien over the weekend? Who knows?! But that’s the beauty of this game.
