South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout didn’t drop a single shot in his Olympic Games opening round on Thursday as he carded a three-under-par 68 in the weather-interrupted first round at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, Japan.
With 32 players – more than half the 60-man field – still to complete their opening rounds, Bezuidenhout was in the clubhouse in a share of 13th place, five strokes behind the leader, Sepp Straka of Austria who was also bogey-free in his round.
Bezuidenhout picked up his first birdie on the 420-metre par-four third hole, and then he made two more on the homeward nine on the 364-metre par-four 13th and the 369-metre par-four 15th. He shared 13th with eight other players, including Xander Schauffele of the United States who had also completed his round and Patrick Reed who hadn’t.
Garrick Higgo made two birdie and a bogey to be at one-under through 14 holes when the siren sounded. He was in a share of 30th.
Straka had a two-stroke lead over Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, both of whom had finished their rounds, and Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond who was six-under through 15.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent was one-under through 11, and former South African Rory Sabbatini, playing for Slovakia, was also one-under, but through 17.
