Dean Burmester birdied his first hole on Thursday on his way to an opening three-under-par 69 in the first round of LIV Golf Adelaide at the Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia.

Burmester started his round on the 17th hole in the shotgun start still used by LIV despite other changes this season, and then didn’t make another birdie until the eighth. He made three birdies in a row from the eighth, and then dropped a shot on the 1tth before parring his way home.

That put him in a 10-way share of ninth after 18 holes in the 72-hole tournament, as the LIV format is now. He was three strokes off the six-under-par lead which was shared by Australian Marc Leishman and Bryson DeChambeau. They led by one from Dustin Johnson and Anthony Kim. Four players shared fifth including Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.

Branden Grace opened with a one-under-par 71, Charl Schwartzel had a three-over-par 75, and Louis Oosthuizen finished on four-over-par 76.

Those scores meant that the Southern Guards GC were way down in 12th place – out of 13 – in the team contest, on a total of three-over. The leaders were four Aces GC on 10-under, with Johnson and Kim the main contributors. The other two players in that team are Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry of Belgium.