Jayden Schaper was delighted to be getting to grips with his new equipment after an off-season of change as he made a fast start to the Magical Kenya Open presented by absa.
The South African recorded five top tens last season as he finished a career-high 65th on the Race to Dubai Rankings but that did not stop him making big changes to his bag.
He switched his driver, three wood and hybrid from TaylorMade Qi10s to TaylorMade Qi35s, while also switching some shafts, with his driver going from a Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana BB 63-TX to a Fujikura Ventus Red VeloCore+ 6-X and his three wood switching from a Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana GT 70-TX to a Fujikura Ventus Red VeloCore+ 7-X.
And while the model of his irons remained the same, he changed his shafts from KBS $-Taper 125s to Project X LS 6.5 125s, while switching out his TaylorMade TP Reserve TR.M37 putter for a TaylorMade Spider Tour T7 4.0.
And while the 23-year-old admits it has taken some adjustment to get used to so many changes at once, he is starting to feel confident after following a tie for fifth at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters with an opening bogey-free 64 at Muthaiga Golf Club.
“I have new clubs in the bag, new woods, new everything,” he said. “I started pre-season with a full set of new irons, new shafts and I think the first couple of weeks I was still kind of adjusting to what the ball flights and spin rates were doing.
“Now I'm just feeling more comfortable and sticking to my game plan and it's a lot of fun out there.”
Schaper took advantage of all four par-fives in Nairobi while also adding gains at the 15th, 17th and ninth after starting on the tenth to get to seven under.
“I stayed patient out there,” he added.
“It's a pretty simple course from the tee boxes. There's maybe only one or two tricky tee-shots out there.
“The greens are a little slow, it's a little tough to get the right pace but I gave myself chances and it paid off.”
Club information supplied by SMS on Tour.
