SOUTH African golfer Ricky Hendler carded a four-under-par 68 to take a two-shot lead after the opening round of the National Aids Council (NAC)-sponsored HIV & Cancer Prevention Drive Pro-Am Golf Tournament at Royal Harare Golf Club yesterday.

The 26-year-old, who plays out of Dainfern Country Club in Johannesburg, was one of the pre-tournament favourites for the title after an impressive season on the Altron Big Easy Tour where he has one victory and five top 10 finishes this season.

Wingate-based Miros Katembenuka and Zambia’s Sydney Wemba sit in a two-way tie for second place on the leaderboard after identical rounds of two-under-par 70.

The gifted duo of Robson Chinhoi and Visitor Mapwanya are within touching distance of the lead after finishing the opening round tied on 71 while Bulawayobased Ignatious Mketekete completes the top six with a level-par 72.

Defending champion Ben Follet-Smith is not featuring in the competition this year due to commitments on the Asian Tour.

A big field of 60 golfers are battling for honours in the NAC-sponsored tournament which is meant to raise funds towards HIV/Aids and cancer prevention.

The sixth edition of the tournament comes hard on the heels of the Zimbabwe Ladies Open Strokeplay competition, held recently which was also sponsored by NAC.

The Zimbabwe Ladies Open was meant to promote the importance of cervical cancer screening.

Cervical cancer screening services were offered for free to all women who attended the tournament.