Dean Burmester was the first South African off in the 150th Open Championship on the Old Course at St Andrews on Thursday, and posted a one-under-par 71 to get his third attempt at the oldest championship in the world underway.
He had things going very well at three-under through 12 holes, but he dropped shots on the 15th and the 17th on his way in. He made an early birdie on the third after a solid start in the face of all the tension and pressure on the first tee. But he dropped a shot on the tough par-three eighth, before turning on the charm all over again with birdies on nine, 10 and 12 taking him to the upper reaches of the leaderboard.
His bogey on eight came when he flew the green, perhaps the one spot where he did not want to miss. He pitched out from some gorse to six feet, and wasn’t able to make the putt. On the 455-yard 15th, he pushed his tee shot a long way right, and was only able to hack his second out sideways to the rough on the other side of the fairway. He left his third nearly 60 feet short of the pin, and two-putted from there. On 17, he found the Road Hole bunker with his second, and blasted out to short of 20 feet. Two putts from there for bogey was probably a good result.
For his birdies, he made a nine-footer on the third for his first of the day. Then he blasted his tee shot over the green on the 352-yard ninth, chipped to three feet and made the putt. He hit his second on 10 to six feet and made that putt, then he drove the green on the 358-yard 12th and two-putted for birdie there.
Garrick Higgo was the other early starter, and he made three birdies and three bogeys to get a level-par 72 under his belt.