A flawless seven-under-par 64 saw Louis Oosthuizen set the pace on day one of the WGC-Mexico Championship.
The South African, seeking a first World Golf Championships title in his 33rd appearance, carded five birdies before a late eagle saw him snatch the outright lead.
Saffa leaderboard:
- Oosthuizen -7
- Schwartzel E
- Grace +1
- Frittelli +2
- Burmester +2
- Stone +4
England’s Chris Paisley, Race to Dubai leader Shubhankar Sharma and American Xander Schauffele were a shot further back after matching six-under-par rounds of 65, with Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello on five under.
Oosthuizen made a perfect start with close-range birdies at the 1st and 2nd, before converting from 16 feet at the 5th.
Further gains came from six feet at the 10th and 12 feet at the 12th, before the former Open Champion hit a stunning approach to four feet on the par-five 15th to set up a simple eagle putt.
‘I’m hitting it well and just need to do the same tomorrow,’ said Oosthuizen.
‘I drove it pretty well. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my driver and just teeing it up on a lot of holes and making good swings.
‘I’ve been hitting it the last three, four weeks really good, two of those weeks just practising back at Palm Beach.’
Paisley won the BMW SA Open in January and followed that result with top-five finishes in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The 31-year-old birdied his first two holes in Mexico City, holing from seven feet before converting from 30 at the next one.
Excellent approaches to two and 13 feet saw him pick up further shots on the 5th and 6th before starting for home with a gain from ten feet at the 10th and carding birdies on the 14th and 15th, only to drop a shot on the 16th after finding a greenside bunker.
Paisley, making his WGC debut this week, said: ‘Obviously I was delighted with the score, and obviously it’s the biggest tournament I’ve played in by a long stretch.
‘To play as well as I did and shoot a great score against the world’s best players and to be right up there, I’m just delighted.
‘I didn’t want to come here and just be happy to be part of it and just make up the numbers. I felt good about my game and I really like the course, it kind of suits my strengths, so I was just quietly confident.
‘I’m obviously surprised that I’ve gone out and shot six under and I’m in second place. That’s going to surpass my expectations. I was quietly confident I could have a good day.’
Sharma chipped in for eagle at the 1st as well as making four birdies and Schauffele had six birdies in a flawless 65 to accentuate a top seven otherwise consisting entirely of European Tour members, with Jon Rahm sitting on four under.
First round leaderboard (par-71):
64 – Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
65 – Xander Schauffele (USA), Chris Paisley (ENG), Shubhankar Sharma (IND)
66 – Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP)
67 – Jon Rahm (ESP)
68 – Sergio Garca (ESP) Pat Perez (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA)
69 – Russell Henley (USA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Bubba Watson (USA) Alexander Norn (SWE), Patton Kizzire (USA), Marc Leishman (AUS), Brendan Steele (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Thomas Pieters (BEL)
70 – Jhonattan Vegas (VEN), Kevin Kisner (USA), David Lipsky (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Adam Bland (AUS), Jordan Spieth (USA) Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Adam Hadwin (CAN)
Credit: European Tour
