South African duo Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel opened their respective accounts at the Rocket Mortgage Classic with rounds of 70 to sit on two under par after the first day.
Grace started with a bogey on the second hole but fired three birdies on the back nine, while Schwartzel endured an up and down back nine with four birdies and two bogeys to come home with.
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Throughout the first round this year’s South African Open winner managed to hit 14 out of 18 greens in regulation at the Detroit Golf Club, while Schwartzel accounted for 15 in total.
The pair will start Friday’s second round in T68 and five strokes behind leaders Doc Redman, Scott Stallings and Kevin Kisner, who all managed a seven-under-par 65 to start with.
Despite starting the event with three consecutive birdies, Christiaan Bezuidenhout in the end could only manage an opening round 71 on Thursday and will be hoping for a bit more consistency come Friday.
South Africa’s final competitor in the field at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Erik van Rooyen, had a somewhat day to forget after a disappointing first round of 75, which saw him finish the day on three over par.
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Van Rooyen could only manage two birdies throughout his round and would especially have been unhappy with the way he finished by conceding bogey on the par 4 18th hole.
He will start the second round in T150 and with a lot of hard work to do.
