Oosthuizen’s 64 leads in Mexico City

Defending champ Johnson shoots 69

MEXICO CITY — Two of the European Tour’s hottest players brought their best golf to their first World Golf Championship.

Louis Oosthuizen, a worldclass player for the better part of a decade, drilled a long iron into 4 feet for eagle on the par-5 15th and had birdies on two of the short par 4s at Chapultepec Golf Club for a 7-under 64 in the Mexico Championship on Thursday.

Right behind were two players unfamiliar to the world stage, though they sure didn’t play like it.

Shubhankar Sharma, the 21-year-old from India and the only two-time winner on the European Tour this season, holed an eagle chip after making the turn and finished with a wedge into 2 feet for birdie and a 65.

“I was very nervous in the morning, but very happy with the way I put it all together,” Sharma said.

Chris Paisley of England, who followed his victory in the South African Open with a pair of top 5s against strong fields in the Middle East, had his name atop the leaderboard for most of the warm afternoon until he came up short of the 16th and made his lone bogey in a round of 65.

This World Golf Championship lived up to its name for at least one day. The top six on the leaderboard came from South Africa, England, India, Spain and Thailand.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson opened with a 69, the kind of round that showed that a slightly softer Chapultepec allowed for low scoring, but there were big mistakes equally available.

“I had some really good holes, I had some really bad holes,” Johnson said. “I felt like I was just struggling all day.”

Justin Thomas didn’t carry over his best form from last week’s playoff victory at the Honda Classic. He opened with a 72, leaving him eight shots out of the lead.

LPGA: In Singapore, Jennifer Song shot an opening 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead at the Women’s World Championship.

The 28-year-old American reeled off seven birdies at the Sentosa Golf Club in a round that was interrupted for two hours by lightning.

Michelle Wie and Ji Eun-Hee (both 67) were tied for second.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: David Toms comes into today’s first round at Omni Tucson National as the Schwab Cup money leader. He hasn’t won yet on the tour, but he has finished in the top five in all three events.

The three-round event has a purse of $1.7 million, with $255,000 going to the winner.