Oosthuizen leads event in Mexico
MEXICO CITY» Two of the European Tour’s hottest players brought their best golf to their first World Golf Championship event.
Louis Oosthuizen, a world-class player for the better part of a decade, drilled a long iron into 4 feet for an eagle on the par-5 15th and had birdies on two of the short par 4s at Chapultepec Golf Club for a 7-under-par 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 a 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-fives 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 S.A., 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.
Song ahead in Championship. World
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 EunHee (both 67) were tied for second, while another nine players finished a further stroke back at 4-under.
Top-ranked Shanshan Feng (70) bogeyed the last hole, while No. 2 Lexi Thompson (75) struggled in making five bogeys.
Still chasing her first LPGA win eight years after turning professional, Song took the outright lead when she made five birdies in an eight-hole stretch.
“At times it has been a great struggle because I know I can win out here, but I just never have been given that chance yet,” Song said. “But I kept believing that someday it will happen. I think that’s the reason why myself and other golfers are still grinding because we believe that we can win out here.”
Wie has not won since she captured her first major at the 2014 Women’s U.S. Open. She led in Singapore last year after the first and third rounds.
Louis de Jager leads.
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 7under 64 to move just ahead of fellow South African Thomas Aiken, Julian Suri of the United States and Felipe Aguilar of Chile.