It was a day on which the course was the hero, but Christiaan Bezuidenhout (pictured above) and Dean Burmester managed to emerge from the incomplete first round of the PGA Championship with rounds of three-over-par 73.
Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, bared its fangs after frost delayed the start, and, when play was suspended, there were still 30 players out on the course yet to complete their rounds.
To put the performances of Burmester and Bezuidenhout into some perspective: only 19 of 156 players were under par; the scoring average was 73.64; there were 302 birdies, but 755 bogeys or worse; and there were two eagles – one from Bezuidenhout – and eight scores of triple-bogey or worse.
Bezuidenhout holed out from a bunker on the par-four 14th for his only gain of the day. He had five bogeys, and, at three-over, finds himself seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by Bryson DeChambeau. The American leads by one from Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson and Canada’s Corey Conners, but another American, Eric Cole, was five-under through 14 when play was suspended.
Three-over gave the South African duo a share of 63rd, and Burmester (above) got there with four bogeys and a birdie. Also on three-over were the likes of Shane Lowry and Jordan Spieth, while world number one Jon Rahm had a six-over for his opening round.
Thriston Lawrence opened with a five-over-par 75, while Ockie Stydom’s major championship debut started with a seven-over-par 77.
While it’s not necessarily a consolation to the South Africans, it’s worth noting that each of the last 44 men’s major champions have been at or within six shots of the lead after the first round. Bezuidenhout, Burmester, Lawrence and Strydom are all hoping to make the weekend and then get going up the leaderboard.
