Only one of the four South Africans finished under par through the first round of the Valspar Championship at the Copperhead course at Innisbrook, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Louis Oosthuizen rebounded from a slow start that included a bogey on the third after a wayward drive and then an approach that found the greenside bunker, plus another drop at the 12th after one more missed green in regulation.
Without a gain at that point, the one-time Major champion then got back to level par with birdies at the par 3 13th and par 3 15th. The first was slightly more regulation after he converted from just over 10 foot, the second came at three times that distance as he rallied back to level par.
A wayward drive on the last left Oosthuizen 169 yards to the green from the left rough, from where he duly managed to find the green with just over 12 foot for birdie.
Oosthuizen calmly rolled in the right-to-left effort to share 29th place.
He is four back of Joel Dahmen and Sepp Straka, with former world No 1 Luke Donald, American Kevin Kisner, and Russell Knox (who secured an albatross for his efforts), all tied for third at -4.
Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace both finished level for the day. Schwartzel went out with nine straight pars and then failed to capatilise on his two back nine birdies as he surrendered two drops.
Grace’s round did not follow the same script after starting on the back nine. He may have secured four birdies in his opening five holes, but sandwiched between those gains was a double at the 12th. A bogey at the 16th saw him make the turn just one-under par.
Again, he birdied his opening hole but two bogeys coming home left Grace level for his exploits.
Dylan Frittelli was one over through 18 after somewhat regathering his play after three bogeys from the second hole. The rookie will be looking to improve his green-in-regulation number on Friday after he found just 50% of the putting surfaces in regulation during round one.
