The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Oosthuizen leading after 64
Eagle on 15 gives exBritish Open champ a one-stroke edge.
Two of the European Tour’s hottest players brought their best to their first World Golf Championship. Louis Oosthuizen, a world-class 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 in Mexico City for a 7-under 64 in the WGC-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.
“After the win in SA, I didn’t want to just be happy with winning. I wanted to kind of press on and that’s what I did,” Paisley said. “I’m taking that attitude into the rounds, as well. If you get defensive or you back off at all against players like you’ve got this week, then you’ve got no chance of winning.”
Sharma won his first European Tour event late last year at the Joburg Open, also played at altitude, and then last month he closed with a 62 to win the Malaysian Open. He was in Oman and Qatar before coming over to Mexico, and fatigue was hardly an issue, even walk-
ing the hilly course at nearly 7,800 feet above sea level. “I’m actually relaxed now. I just wanted the first round to get out of the way,” Sharma said. “You’re always very happy when you start with such a low round, espe- cially for me. This is such a big event. I would say this is taking some pressure off me, playing well on this course.”
Xander Schauffele also was at 65, while Rafael Cabrera Bello and Kiradech Aphibarnrat were at 66.
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.
The lone American, Schauf- fele, has a German father with French heritage and a mother who was born in Taiwan and raised in Japan.
Defending champi on Dustin Johnson opened with a 69. Bubba Watson, coming off a victory at Riviera, also had a 69 and had reason to feel as if it were worse. He was leading at 7 under until running off four bogeys in a six-hole stretch at the end of his round.
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.
“It’s probably the worst I’ve ever felt over the ball in my life,” Thomas said.
He played with Johnson and Jon Rahm, who also had enough mistakes to limit him to a 67. Jordan Spieth, who didn’t decide to play until late last week, opened with a 70.
LPGA Tour: Jennifer Song shot an opening 7-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead at the Women’s World Championship in Singapore. The 28-year-old American reeled off seven birdies at the Sen- tosa Golf Club in a round
that was interrupted for two hours by lightning.
Michelle Wie and Ji EunHee (both 67) were tied for second while another nine players finished a further stroke back at 4 under. Wie has not won since she captured her first major at the 2014 Women’s U.S. Open.
Ji also bogeyed her last hole but managed to stay clear of a chasing pack of nine players at 68 — Brooke Henderson, Ariya Jutanu- garn, Danielle Kang, Chun In Gee, Jessica Korda, Mad- elene Sagstrom, Chella Choi, Su Oh and Park Sung Hyun.
European Tour: Louis de Jager’s strong finish gave him a one-shot lead after the first round of the Tshwane Open in South Africa. De Jager birdied three of his last four holes for a 7-under 64 to move just ahead of fellow South Afri- can Thomas Aiken, Julian Suri of the United States, and Felipe Aguilar of Chile. De Jager hasn’t won a tour event but his best result came at this event in 2013.