His early morning start on Thursday, while ostensibly a ‘punishment’ for winning a legal battle to get him into the Genesis Scottish Open at the last moment, helped Justin Harding to a bogey-free five-under-par 65 and third place after the first round at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
The afternoon field found the course playing 3.2 strokes harder in the afternoon than in the morning, so Harding’s early start was a blessing in disguise. He picked up birdies on three and nine to turn in two-under, and then made three more on his homeward nine. He was one shot behind Gary Woodland who was on six-under in second, but well behind the superb nine-under 61 of leader Cameron Tringale, who set a course record and had a run of six consecutive birdies on the back nine.
“I got off to an early start and played solid,” said Harding. “I mean, felt like I managed my game pretty well. Look, it wasn’t short of a couple bad shots but I saved myself with the putter. The putter was solid, and yeah, I’m happy with it.”
Harding was one of four LIV Golf players added to the field after winning an arbitration hearing staying a ban on their playing in the tournament.
“There are times when it’s a little bit uncomfortable when you’re walking around,” Harding said. “The European Tour guys have been fine. The PGA Tour guys are in a completely different boat but I don’t really want to get into the semantics of all of that. We’re just going to have to let it play out.
“I haven’t ‘gone’ to LIV. I have just participated in a couple of events. I’ve not signed any contracts or deals so I feel like I’m in a slightly different position. Everyone has a different view on it.
“I’ve played in the ones I’ve got into off world ranking and I don’t know if I’m into the next one.
“They opened up a few slots on world ranking spots. It was an invitational, it was worth a bucketload of money and it felt like I could play in it. I’m a golfer and I felt like I was entitled to play in the event.”
Dylan Frittelli had a solid start to the tournament with his three-under-par 67 putting him in a share of seventh. Daniel van Tonder and Dean Burmester were on two-under in 15th, and Branden Grace – another late LIV addition to the field – and Thriston Lawrence were on one-under in 28th.
Garrick Higgo and Brandon Stone were on two-over, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout was on three-over. Erik van Rooyen was on five-over.
