Louis Albertse played his way into the second round of the LIV Golf Promotions event on Thursday when he carded a three-under-par 67 in the first round at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida.

The top 20 and ties from the first round advanced to compete in Friday’s second round, together with 18 players who were exempt to go through to the second round.

In the end, all 29 players who shot better than even-par 70 joined those 18 players, and Albertse was joined after that opening round by Oliver Bekker, who also carded a three-under-par 67.

Like Albertse, Bekker had a bogey-free round. Albertse led the statistics in scrambling after the first round, getting up and down an astonishing seven times out of seven attempts. Bekker only had to scramble for par on three occasions, and he did so successfully each time.

Not so fortunate in the opening round were Samuel Simpson and Martin Vorster, who only had that one bite at the cherry.

Canada’s Richard T Lee led the first-round field of 60 players with a bogey-free six-under 64, two shots better than his nearest competitors, thanks to a stretch of four birdies in his final six holes.

Of the 47 players competing on Friday, the top 20 and ties will advance to the two-day weekend shootout. Their scores will be reset for the second round, and again before the third round. The top three players after those 36 final holes will earn wild-card spots for the upcoming LIV Golf season.

Herman Loubser is one of the 18 players exempt into the second round by virtue of his position on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit. Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent is also one of those players.