Louis lights up Sun City
NGC: OOSTHUIZEN SHOWS NO ILL-EFFECTS TO GRAB THE FIRST ROUND LEAD
He didn’t think he would even make it onto the first tee yesterday morning.
Louis Oosthuizen is not fazed by much being the famously chilled, relaxed person he is.
Yesterday he gave a proverbial two fingers to the debilitating kidney stones that threatened his participation in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.
But instead of the bookmakers’ favourite pulling out of the tournament, those watching at Gary Player Country Club were treated to a dazzling display of golf as Oosthuizen fired a magnificent nine-under-par 63 to claim a three-stroke lead after the first round.
Any worries about his competitiveness were immediately set aside by a birdie-birdie start and he collected another pair of birdies on the fifth and sixth holes to reach the turn in four-under. Oosthuizen started the back nine with three successive birdies and then picked up further shots on the 14th and, via a superb 25-foot putt, on 17.
“At 3am this morning when I was on my knees in the toilet I didn’t think I was going to tee it up today. It was a very uncomfortable night, crawling around the hotel room after I spent time in hospital in Rustenburg yesterday. But I just tried to walk slower, do everything slower and it wasn’t that bad this morning and it got better a lot faster than I thought it would.
“I knew my swing and putting were there from finishing third at the HSBC Champions a couple of weeks ago and I hit the ball nicely today and swung it good. I didn’t try any big hits, I always went for the smoother club and sometimes that gives you a better ball-flight, which was useful in this very tricky wind.
“Around here, to not have a bogey means you’ve done a great job,” Oosthuizen said after his first bogey-free first round since winning the South African Open last December.
His nearest challengers were
Italian rookie Guido Migliozzi, who went out in the second threeball of the day and went six-under through the front nine, before then slipping back to five-underpar with three bogeys and two birdies on the back nine; and Belgium’s Thomas Detry, who started on the 10th and went out in 32 and then picked up two more shots coming home on the front nine to claim second place on sixunder-par.
Ernie Els turned back the clock with a very impressive 68 and was joined on four-under-par by compatriot Zander Lombard and defending champion Lee Westwood.
“I was in the rough too often but no bogeys and 68 was a great start, It was tricky, the wind was up and a couple of the flags were tucked away, like Sunday pins,” said Westwood.