Erik van Rooyen had a solid start in benign conditions on Thursday in the opening round of the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club outside Edinburgh in North Berwick as he carded a three-under-par 67.
With little to no wind – and even though it was cool – Van Rooyen’s six birdies and three bogeys were only good enough for a share of 34th as the players took advantage to go low. He was five strokes off the lead which was set by Justin Thomas who had a dream start with eight birdies and not a single dropped shot for his eight-under 62.
Thomas led by one from Sungjae Im of Korea, who made two bogeys on his way to his seven-under 63. There were five players on six-under, including the Swede Ludvig Aberg, while Rory McIlroy was in a share of eighth on five-under with 14 other players on a packed leaderboard.
There were 11 players on four-under, and 23 others with Van Rooyen on three-under. One of those was Dylan Frittelli, who made seven birdies and four bogeys.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Louis de Jager each carded opening one-under-par 69s, which put them in a share of 77th. Thriston Lawrence had a one-over 71 for a share of 11th and will have to sharpen up if he is to make the weekend’s action.
Ockie Strydom opened with a three-over 73.
