Nathan Kimsey had an unusual start to his opening round at the 2026 Joburg Open as he went from first reserve to clubhouse leader.
The Englishman was not part of the original field but, as first reserve, he was onsite at Houghton Golf Course in case of any late withdrawals.
It did not look like that was going to be the case as the early wave of tee-times passed by, however, just as he put his feet up to watch his DP World Tour colleagues battle the wet conditions in Johannesburg, Kimsey got the call that he made the cut.
He replaced South Africa's Louis de Jager and he went out in the final group of the morning starters on the back nine.
Playing partners Daniel Young and Ryan van Velzen were already on the tenth fairway when Kimsey teed off, but he made up for the lost time with seven birdies and a bogey in a brilliant 64 to sit one shot behind overnight leader Luke Brown.
Speaking about his hectic morning, Kimsey said: "Where do I start? Yeah obviously I was first reserve this morning so I turned up here first thing and kind of got warmed up, got ready and was hanging out at the range and stuff just hoping I might make a tee-time.
"I pretty much got to the last tee-time in the morning wave and there were no word so we came back into the clubhouse, just putting our feet up and chilling for another few hours and then sudddenly got a call and we are on the tee and we were going!
"In the circumstances, it was fantastic. I mean I couldn't have asked for any more."
It was not the only wait that Kimsey had to experience on Thursday as there was a 105-minute delay due to thunder and lightning in the area after he had finally got on the course.
"We went out there and played a hole and a half before we had the weather delay, so that kind of gave me a little time to settle down a little bit and a bit of time to regroup," the 32-year-old added.
"I got back out there and just took it as an extra opportunity that I got last minute and I had fun out there. I played nicely, holed a few nice putts and it worked out pretty well.
"Six hours ago I didn't have a tee-time so it was nice to get out there and play some good golf and I'm pleased to be part of the tournament, and looking forward to the next few days."
