Louis Oosthuizen opened his account at the PGA Championship with a one-under-par 71 at the Ocean Course on Thursday.
The year’s second Major got under way with players weighing up the early challenge of an expected difficult few days of golf.
Oosthuizen flew out of the blocks with an eagle on his second hole, the 11th, after teeing off on the back nine before another birdie took him to three under par through only four holes.
But, a bogey and double-bogey followed to have him turn with a 36 on the front nine. Another drop shot on the 10th dropped Oosthuizen into the red, but the South African showed great resilience to recover with back-t0-back birdies on the 6th and 7th.
Louis Oosthuizen ties the early lead with this birdie.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/jYKZ7lNOjy
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 20, 2021
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Erik van Rooyen also enjoyed a solid opening to his PGA Championship by remaining even through the first round in South Carolina on Thursday.
Van Rooyen had an eventful round that yielded three birdies, an eagle, three bogeys and a double-bogey across his 18 holes to sign off with a 72.
Dylan Frittelli shot a one over par for his opening round, as did Garrick Higgo, who teed off for his very first Major.
George Coetzee started brightly but a couple of testing holes knocked him down the early leaderboard, where he concluded the first round with a three-over-par 75.
Similarly, Charl Schwartzel struggled to get going with his opening round – shooting four over for a round of 76.
Photo: Getty Images
