Intro:

Reaction following the opening round of the African Open in East London, South Africa on Thursday (5th March).

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Matt Ford:

"Yes, yes. Very happy. When I woke up and got here this morning, it looked breezy so I thought that anything under par today would have been good. Probably playing in the middle of the wind there, so yes very happy."

SOUNDBITE (English) Matt Ford, joint leader at five under par:

"Yes. It seems such a long time ago now, Q(qualifying) school to be honest. But it's been a strange few months for me really, coming from Q school so I've been playing some good golf, a bit inconsistent at times, but I mean playing in the windy conditions here is just a bit like being at home really. So I seem to have good control over my ball today and I putted nicely so I just hope that can continue."

SOUNDBITE (English) Matt Ford:

"Yes obviously I don't know what (the weather) will have in store tomorrow. The wind was completely different to the last couple of days so the golf course played completely different to practice. But my room mate told me that possible could happen so I just kind of (coped) and it could be the same tomorrow. You just don't know what the weather could have in store for us."

SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin Phelan, joint leader at five under par:

"Somewhat, I mean I'm quite used to playing in the wind, but it's a completely different course now that it was in practice. It was an opposite wind, so all the holes were... there was almost no point in playing practice, so... yeah, it was good. My caddy did a great job with the yeardages, so we're well prepared."