Southern Guards GC captain Louis Oosthuizen hits his shot from the eighth tee during the first round of LIV Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club. Oosthuizen is tied for fifth and trails the leaders by one shot.
Image: LIV GOLF
Louis Oosthuizen is finding form at the perfect time. With LIV Golf’s South African debut just a week away, the Southern Guards (SG) captain opened the Singapore tournament with a strong start.
Oosthuizen, coming off a Top 10 finish last weekend in Hong Kong, led the charge for the local contingent at Sentosa Golf Club with a three-under-par first round to sit tied for fifth — just one shot behind the leaders.
Four players — Lee Westwood (Majestics GC), Richard T. Lee (wildcard), Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers) and Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) — share the lead at four-under.
The SG captain started with a birdie on the fourth hole and made four more, but two bogeys held him back on the scorecard. But he won’t be too disappointed with how his round went, considering the rounds some of the other players experienced.
The wind made it a challenging first round in Singapore, with Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel tied in 31st place with +1. Branden Grace is on -1 in a tie for 22nd. The South Africans are fourth in the team competition on three-under-par; however, it will be difficult to catch Rahm and his Legion teammates, who lead the field on 11-under.
Westwood, captain of Majestics, said it was a good experience playing alongside Oosthuizen.
“Louis has a very good game for this type of course,” Westwood said about the Southern Guards captain.
“He’s very steady and putts nicely. He is pretty calm all the time and a good playing companion. David (Puig) was also leading at a stage, and when a whole group gets into that rhythm, you sometimes bring each other along.”
While there are still three long days of golf left in Asia, Westwood has his eye on returning to South Africa when the league makes its stop at Steyn City in a week. The Englishman has had quite the success on the golf course in the country.
“I’ve always played well down there and won three Nedbank Challenges and a Dimension Data. It is somewhere else where I’ve played well in the past. I seem to play well on that kind of grass and in that heat.
“It’s a course I’ve never played before, and I am excited about that. I have a lot of friends and support there, so it is good to be going back.”