Louis Oosthuizen shot 69 at the Earth Course of Jumeirah Golf Estates on Thursday to join a tie for seventh place after the first round of the DP World Tour Championship.
The 2010 Open Champion got off the mark quickly with birdies at the first two holes and made the turn in two-under-par 34. He coasted through the stretch and made birdies at the 14th and 18th, offset by a dropped shot at the 16th, and signed for 69.
Lee Westwood led proceedings on Thursday with a six-under-par 66 in Dubai, where he made seven birdies and a lone bogey to lead by one stroke over Nicolas Colsaerts and Julien Quesne.
‘This is as good as I’ve played for quite some time,’ said Westwood. ‘I’ve found a couple of keys in different parts of my game and I’ve been working on them hard. It all came together today.’
Jaco van Zyl shot 69 for his share of seventh place, and was three strokes behind the lead after the first round.
‘It was good. All in all I’m satisfied with the round,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t extremely tough and I capitalised where I could.
‘You have to avoid missing it in the wrong spot on this course, because being on the green doesn’t guarantee par around here. I seem to be playing nicely, so let’s hold thumbs that all goes well.’
Charl Schwartzel and Richard Sterne each shot 70 for a share of 13th place and will surely be looking to climb the leaderboard on Friday.
