George Coetzee overcame a bogey on each nine on Thursday in the opening round of the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the Yas Links Abu Dhabi in the UAE to card a first-round score of four-under-par 68.
When play was suspended for darkness with 18 players in the 126-man field still to complete their rounds, Coetzee had taken up a share of 12th place, four shots behind the lead which was surprisingly held by European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald. The former world number one’s 64 was one better than the pair of seven-under totals of Italy’s Guido Migliozzi and Australian Jason Scrivener.
Coetzee started his round on the 10th, and quickly picked up birdies on 11 and 13. He dropped a shot on the 15th when he overshot the green, and was unable to get up and down after hitting his chip under four feet from the pin. Hi regained that shot with a birdie on the par-three 17th, and made another on the second. His second bogey came on the sixth when he pushed his drive far right. He dumped his recovery into a fairway bunker just over 60 yards from the flag, and did not get up and down from there. Birdies on seven and nine rounded out his solid start.
Thriston Lawrence was the next-best of the South Africans after and extraordinary round of one-under 71. He opened with a double-bogey on the first and two bogeys in succession on two and three after that. He birdied seven and bogeyed eight to turn in four-over 40, and he rescued what could have been a disastrous opening round with five birdies and no dropped shots on his way home. He’s seven off the pace in a share of 44th.
Also on one-under was Ockie Strydom, who also overcame a potentially disastrous start – a bogey and a double on one and two – with four birdies. JC Ritchie was on level-par, Oliver Bekker and Louis de Jager were on one-over, Zander Lombard on three-over and Jacques Kruyswijk on six-over. Hennie du Plessis and Justin Harding still had to complete their rounds. Du Plessis was on two-over through 17 and Harding on six-over through 15.
