Louis Oosthuizen leads Open as SA golfers shine + ALL Round 1 scores

Louis Oosthuizen led after the first round at the British Open for two years as a six under par 66 from the South African put him one shot clear of American duo Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman.

LIVE | OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD: ROUND 2

The 149th Open Championship got underway under blue skies at Royal St. George’s in Kent on Thursday after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Up to 32 000 fans will take to the course in Sandwich each day as Covid-19 restrictions ease in England despite a spike in positive cases.

“It feels the most normal of any tournament I think that we’ve played thus far relative to that same tournament in previous years pre-Covid,” said Spieth, aiming to emulate his 2017 Open victory at Royal Birkdale.

Oosthuizen has been frustrated so far this year in his attempt to add to his only major triumph, a dominant victory in the 2010 Open at St Andrews.

The world number 13 finished second in this year’s two most recent majors, the PGA Championship and US Open, and is now in contention again.

After starting with seven straight pars, Oosthuizen accelerated around the turn with seven birdies in 10 holes.

“The perfect round I could have played,” said Oosthuizen.

“I didn’t make many mistakes. When I had good opportunities for birdie, I made the putts. So just a very good solid round.”

Spieth has rediscovered his form of late with a victory at the Texas Open in April his first in nearly four years.

“Golf is a game played between the ears,” added the three-time major champion.

“When it’s not going great, you can certainly lose quite a bit of confidence.

“That was the first time I’ve had to really try and build confidence back up, and it takes time.”

Spieth shot up the leaderboard thanks to four consecutive birdies between the fifth and the eighth holes and finished strongly by picking up two more shots at 15 and 16.

Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes, on his British Open debut, South African Dylan Frittelli, Americans Stewart Cink and Webb Simpson and France’s Benjamin Hebert are two off the lead after rounds of 66.

World number four Colin Morikawa and English trio Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Danny Willett are among those on three under.

Dustin Johnson’s best finish at an Open Championship came at Royal St. George’s 10 years ago when the world number one finished second to Darren Clarke and he is well positioned after an opening round of 68.

Pre-tournament favourite Jon Rahm, the recently crowned US Open champion, was stung by a double bogey at the par four ninth, but finished with a birdie for a one over round of 71.

Rory McIlroy’s quest to end a seven-year major drought got a late boost as he birdied two of the last five holes for an even par round of 70.

Brooks Koepka admitted pre-tournament that he is no fan of the course, but the serial contender for major championships kept himself in the hunt with a round of 69 despite bogeying the 18th.

Bryson DeChambeau accepted before teeing-off that his booming drives may have to be tempered this week, with staying out of the lush rough the key to remaining in contention for the weekend.

DeChambeau, however, consistently found himself hacking out from what he said were “diabolical” positions from off the fairway during a mixed round of 71 featuring four birdies and five bogeys. 

“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks,” said DeChambeau.

But his round was as nothing compared to that of Phil Mickelson who, fewer than two months on from becoming the oldest major winner at 50 by winning the PGA Championship, carded an 80 that left him rock bottom of the field.

Collated first round scores in the British Open at Royal St George’s Golf Club on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated, Par 70): 

64 – Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 

65 – Brian Harman (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA) 

66 – Stewart Cink (USA), Benjamin Hebert (FRA), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Webb Simpson (USA), Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 

67 – An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Harding (RSA), Collin Morikawa (USA), Justin Rose, Scottie Scheffler (USA), Andy Sullivan, Danny Willett, Jack Senior, Marcel Siem (GER) 

68 – Jaco Ahlers (RSA), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA), Paul Casey, Corey Conners (CAN), Ryan Fox (NZL), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Dustin Johnson (USA), Chris Kirk (USA), Keith Mitchell (USA), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Daniel van Tonder (RSA) 

69 – Abraham Ancer (MEX), Marcus Armitage, Joel Dahmen (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Talor Gooch (USA), Lanto Griffin (USA), Marcus Kinhult (Swe), Brooks Koepka (USA), Lin Yuxin (CHN), Guido Migliozzi (ITA), Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Xander Schauffele (USA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Cameron Tringale (USA), Erik van Rooyen (RSA), Will Zalatoris (USA) 

70 – Daniel Berger (USA), Richard Bland, Dean Burmester (RSA), Rafael Cabrera (ESP), Tony Finau (USA), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Russell Henley (USA), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Max Homa (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Jazz Janewattananond (THA), Takumi Kanaya (JPN), Chan Kim (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Jason Kokrak (USA), Rory McIlroy, Ryutaro Nagano (JPN), Victor Perez (FRA), Aaron Rai, Antoine Rozner (FRA), Kevin Streelman (USA), Harold Varner III (USA), Johannes Veerman (USA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Matt Wallace, Sam Horsfield 

71 – Keegan Bradley (USA), Sam Burns (USA), Darren Clarke, Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP), Matthew Fitzpatrick, Brad Kennedy (AUS), Kurt Kitayama (USA), Shane Lowry, Chengtsung Pan (TPE), Jon Rahm (ESP), J. C. Ritchie (RSA), Matthias Schwab (AUT), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Jonathan Thomson, Lee Westwood, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 

72 – Christoffer Bring (DEN), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Ricardo Celia (COL), Ernie Els (RSA), Branden Grace (RSA), Padraig Harrington, Tyrrell Hatton, Daniel Hillier (NZL), Charley Hoffman (USA), Matt Jones (AUS), Rikard Karlberg (SWE), Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN), Robert MacIntyre, Richard Mansell, Shaun Norris (RSA), Ryan Palmer (USA), Ian Poulter, Chez Reavie (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Brendon Todd (USA), Paul Waring, Adam Long (USA), Thomas Detry (BEL) 

73 – Sam Forgan, Abel Gallegos (ARG), Garrick Higgo (RSA), Joe Long, Troy Merritt (USA), Sebastian Munoz (COL), Poom Saksansin (THA), Marcel Schneider (GER), Adam Scott (AUS), Jason Scrivener (AUS), Brendan Steele (USA), Gary Woodland (USA) 

74 – Patrick Cantlay (USA), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Martin Kaymer (GER), Matt Kuchar (USA), Romain Langasque (FRA), Alexander Noren (SWE), Aaron Pike (AUS), Matthias Schmid (GER), Laird Shepherd, Min-Woo Lee (AUS) 

75 – Sam Bairstow, John Catlin (USA), Jason Day (AUS), Harris English (USA), Lucas Glover (USA), Adam Hadwin (CAN), Cole Hammer (USA), Yuki Inamori (JPN), Richard T. Lee (CAN), Marc Leishman (AUS), Li Haotong Li (CHN), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Carlos Ortiz (MEX), Nicholas Poppleton 

76 – Daniel Croft, Joost Luiten (NED) 

77 – Ben Hutchinson, Connor Worsdall 

80 – Deyen Lawson (AUS), Phil Mickelson (USA)