After a tough start to the year Charl Schwartzel finally hit the ground running on Thursday when he carded an excellent opening round 67 on the first day of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
The 2011 Masters champion has been struggling to recover from a wrist injury that kept him out of action for the majority of last year and it has certainly made for a slow start to the year for him.
His first round at Pebble Beach, however, would’ve given him heaps of confidence to finally start ticking on the golf course and there is no better place to do it than at this weekend’s competition.
The 35-year-old started his round with real composure, making one birdie on the front nine to turn for 33.
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A bogey on the par 5, 12th hole didn’t break his motivation and he responded with a total of four birdies on the back nine, including a good 3 on the final 18th hole as he finished on 4 under par and in T4.
The leader, though, after the opening round is Canadian Nick Taylor, who got out of the blocks with real determination and hunger.
Back-to-back birdies on his first two holes gave him the confidence to make a big score and two more consecutive birdies to finish the front nine saw him turn with a brilliant 30.
The 31-year-old continued his dominance on the back nine as well with a magnificent eagle 3 on the par 5, 10th hole before a further two birdies on 15 and 16 saw him finish with a stunning 63, 8 under par for the round and the leader by two shots heading into the second round on Friday.
Americans Patrick Cantlay and Chase Seiffert are in T2 on 6 under par, while Branden Grace, who performed really well at last weekend’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, is one over after his first round and in T95.
The new SA Open champion was in big trouble from the start as he made four consecutive bogeys on his first four holes of the day.
Three birdies throughout his round saw him climb back into a respectable position but a lot of work lies ahead on Friday if he wants to make the cut.
Photo: Sean Haffey/Getty Images
