It was a pretty bleak day for the three South Africans in the low-scoring opening round of the Masters at Augusta National in Georgia, with amateur Aldrich Potgieter (pictured) starting well but fading to a five-over-par 77.
Potgieter overcame his nerves after an opening bogey on the first hole, but he regained that with the first of three birdies in his round. At the Masters, the four bogeys he added to that haul of gains would ordinarily have indicated a good start, but he made a triple-bogey eight on the 13th as he exited Amen Corner when he hit his approach into the azaleas. He compounded the error when he took an unplayable penalty drop out of them and chipped the ball across the green into the Rae’s Creek tributary.
Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 champion who played with Potgieter, opened with a two-over-par 74, with two birdies and four bogeys, while Louis Oosthuizen had just one birdie, three bogeys and a double-bogey in his four-over 76.
Even though it was only the first round, their performances could prove a mountain to climb for the South Africans to get into position to make the cut in conditions which are forecast to be tough in the second round, as they are so far off the pace of the first-round lead which was shared by Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Spaniard Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka of the United States at seven-under.
Jason Day and Cameron Young were in a share of fourth place on five-under, one ahead of the group featuring Ireland’s Shane Lowry, American amateur Sam Bennett, defending champion and world number one Scheffler, former winner Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland and Sam Burns.
Rory McIlroy opened disappointingly with a level-par 72, while Tiger Woods limped to a two-over 74.
