With last year’s stinging final round in mind, Louis Oosthuizen set about righting the wrongs with a breathtaking 63 to lead by three after Thursday’s opening round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.
12 months ago, the top-ranked South African ticked off a career goal by winning the SA Open at Randpark but failed to make it a local double when he surrendered a final-round advantage to Lee Westwood at Sun City.
With three top 10s in his last four appearances at Gary Player Country Club and five European Tour wins on home soil, he was always one to watch.
In round one, he proved as much as he overcame a bout of kidney stones to take his place in the field.
Considering that at 3am this morning I didn’t think I was doing going to tee it up, I’m very chuffed with that round,’ he said.
‘I spent a bit of time in the hospital in Rustenburg and this morning was just a little niggly but I went up to the range, hit a few shots and it didn’t really bother me. It was more the walking fast that got it so I just slowed everything down and worked nicely.
‘I love this golf course. One of my first wins on the Sunshine Tour was here in the Dimension Data and it’s one of those places where I feel like I can play really good.
‘It was a good round of golf. I played pretty solid and just happy I didn’t make any bogeys which is always great around this golf course.’
Belgian Thomas Detry was Oosthuizen’s nearest challenger at six under, one under of Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and two ahead of defending champion Lee Westwood, three-time winner Ernie Els and another home favourite Zander Lombard.
Oosthuizen had never gone bogey free before in 32 rounds at Gary Player Country Club but his round on day one saw him equal the biggest 18-hole lead of the 2019 Race to Dubai.
