South African duo Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen have some work to do after a middle of the road start to the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
The only team event on the PGA Tour provided its fair share of thrills and spills on Thursday with Lucas Glover and Chez Reavie surprising the bigger names in the field combining for an opening 60.
Playing in the betterball format, Glover and Reavie produced the perfect kind of teamwork to tie Zecheng Dou and Xinjun Zhang (China) at -12. Six teams are two back including BMW SA Open winner Chris Paisley and Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood and ‘Team Utah’ Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays.
South Africa has five representatives this week with Tyrone van Aswegen and Retief Goosen upstaging their more illustrious countryman going one shot better after going bogey-free all day and capping their round with an eagle on the last thanks to Goosen.
Schwartzel and Oosthuizen were unable to dovetail during round one as their team reflected six birdies but on four occasions the duo made the gains on the same hole. Their biggest mistake was on the par-four 14th where both made bogey despite finding the fairway.
Schwartzel missed the green in two and failed to get up-and-down while Oosthuizen was left to rue his three-putt.
Rory Sabbatini joined John Daly this week with the duo -4 through 18.
On Friday, the format shifts to foursomes (alternate shot) where the partnerships will be tested more severely.
Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
