Louis Oosthuizen made a solid start to the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday as he carded a three-under-par 67 in the first round to be five shots off the lead.
He made four birdies and a bogey on the back nine after starting his round on the 10th hole, making two 12-footers and two three-footers for his birdies, and missing a four-footer for par on the par-four 13th for his sole dropped shot of the day. He came home in level-par on the front nine, and he was in a share of 13th behind leader Harris English who had a superb seven-under 28 on his opening nine on the front. English was two clear of American countrymen Jim Herman and Matthew Wolff, who were together on six-under with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and England’s Ian Poulter.
Oosthuizen hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation during his first round, but he would have liked to have been a bit straighter off the tee as he hit just nine of the 14 fairways.
Garrick Higgo also made a good start with his two-under-par 68. He made four birdies and two bogeys to be in a share of 26th in the 66-man field. Unfortunately for Wilco Nienaber, lack of accuracy off the tee hurt him as he hit only three fairways all day and ended up bringing up the rear of the field with his six-over 76.
