The South African is well and truly the man in-form this season having played in eight tournaments so far recording six top 20 finishes. This included a second-place finish at the season opening tournament the Riegler & Partner Legends and winning the Swiss Seniors Open earlier this month, meaning he has two Legends Tour titles to his name.
Kingston made par on the first two holes followed by four back-to-back birdies and three pars from seven to nine. Heading into the back nine Kingston recorded three birdies and a chip in eagle on the 12th hole followed by another birdie on 15 to finish the day for a 62.
“I made a par on two and birdie on three,” Kingston said. “Slowly I got into round and once I got going, I could feel that I was in control of what I was doing, I took on a few shots and they came off and whenever I had a putt, I seemed to see the line and made a good stroke and it seemed to go in.
“Getting to 11 I was presented with a nice sort of shot where I could hit it past the flag so it could spin backwards, 12 is a driveable hole but you don’t want to step up there and be greedy and knock it in the water so I played it a little safe ended up in the semi rough and I had a tough downhill shot and I said to my caddie Steve do I pitch it short of the green and just run it or do I take the more risky shot and fly it onto the green and let it treacle down and it pitched perfect just on the green and I could see the line to the flag and eight feet from the hole I had both hands in the air knowing that I couldn’t see it missing.
“It’s just one of those days when you hit the right shot you seem to get the result that you were looking for all in all it’s an amazing day.”
Kingston is joined in the field by fellow South African Ernie Els, The Senior Open presented by Rolex winner from last week Darren Clarke, former Ryder Cup captains Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley along with Vijay Singh and José María Olazábal.
CLICK HERE for the live action from today and over the weekend at The JCB Championship.
