Golf:The Louis Oosthuizen show just kept on rolling today after the new Open champion swapped St Andrews for Stockholm and starred again. Not wanting to give a poor display, Oosthuizen scored a five under 67 to share the lead after the first round of the Scandinavian Masters.
The 27-year-old South African, a runaway seven-shot winner at the Home of Golf on Sunday, admits he is looking forward to going home next week, but it might be with another title under his belt.
Only Australian left-hander Richard Green and American Dustin Johnson — the player who blew the US Open with a closing 82 last month — could match his opening effort.
“I had a good sleep, but I woke up tired again and the win has definitely drained me,” said Oosthuizen. “But the crowds were unbelievable, cheering me onto every green and every tee.
“I wanted to play nicely. The last thing I wanted was to put on a bad show and it was important not to think too much about next week.”
The Claret Jug holder kicked off with a birdie, followed with eight pars and then came home in a superb 32. That even included a trip to the water — there is plenty of it at the spectacular new Bro Hof course — on the long 13th, but he came back from a six there with birdies at the next two and finished in style with a 30-footer for another.
Johnson, playing on invitation after finishing tied 14th at St Andrews, matched Oosthuizen and Green with a flawless card containing five birdies.
"I wanted to see a bit of Europe so I came here," Johnson said. "I found the course fits my eye perfectly."
The top trio led by a stroke from a group including Italian Edoardo Molinari who can join brother Francesco in Europe's automatic nine Ryder Cup places with second place in Sweden.
Michael Hoey was best of the Irish after carding a two under par 70 in a round containing three birdies and jut one dropped shot at the Robert Trent Jones designed layout, touted as a potential Ryder Cup venue.
Gary Murphy was two further back after his opening 72 to be one better than Damien McGrane and Simon Thornton (both 73) and two better than Peter Lawrie (74).
Former Ryder Cup player Jesper Parnevik, once Sweden's top golfer, recorded a 75 on his comeback from a broken vertebrae which has kept him off the fairways for over six months. The 45-year-old US based Swede had been worried about running up an embarrassing score.
"I was so nervous about how my back would react I only decided to play late last night," Parnevik said. "I knew there was a danger I could shoot 90 but after hitting a semi-shank with my second shot my round was actually quite solid.
"The back pain is still there, though, and after this tournament I'll have to go back to rehabilitation until the pain has gone completely."