A late eagle boosted smooth-swinging Louis Oosthuizen to the first-round lead as a diverse mix of players lined up close behind the South African at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Thursday.
The former British Open champion offered a timely reminder that on his day he is still among the game’s elite as he carded a bogey-free seven-under-par 64 at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City.
He headed Xander Schauffele, Shubhankar Sharma and Chris Paisley by a stroke on a day when defending champion Dustin Johnson hit a 69 that included a near ace at the 17th, his ball landing beyond the pin and spinning back almost into the hole.
In just his second PGA Tour start of the year, Oosthuizen ran off five birdies before landing a four-foot eagle at the par-five 15th, which plays more as a long par-four in the rarefied air more than 7,300 feet (2,225m) above sea level.
“I’m very confident with my driver at the moment. I’ve got a nice little cut going, and it’s nice to be able to just aim left and swing away,” Oosthuizen told Golf Channel.
“I’ve been swinging it pretty good the last two or three weeks.”
He said he had misjudged the distances of some of his iron shots in the thin air, but not enough to cost him a bogey.
“You can get one with a short iron and it just blows your mind how far it goes and then the next hole you come up short. It’s all about the ball flight you put on it.”

Sharma shines with Georgia on his mind
Shubhankar Sharma made an eye-opening World Golf Championships debut as the Indian prospect carded a six-under-par 65 in the first round.
Already twice a winner this season on the European Tour, the 21-year-old said, “I’m really pleased with the way I played. I was very nervous in the morning, but very happy with the way I put it all together.”
The hot start was another small step towards what Sharma hopes will be an appearance in next month’s US Masters.
Despite recent victories in South Africa and Malaysia, and leading the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, Sharma has yet to qualify for the first major of the year.
Currently ranked 75th in the world, he has only four weeks left to move into the top 50 and punch his ticket to Augusta.
The Masters has a tradition of occasionally inviting a non-exempt Asian player, raising the intriguing possibility that Sharma might yet receive a prized summons, even if he doesn’t qualify automatically.
But he would rather make it a moot point and with a strong finish could qualify as early as this week. With the nerves settled, it is full steam ahead.
“To be honest, I’m actually relaxed now,” he said. “I just wanted the first round to get out of the way,” said Sharma, who has been hooked on golf ever since he was introduced to the game by his father as a six-year-old.
“You’re always very happy when you start with such a low round, especially for me. This is such a big event, I would say this is taking some pressure off me, playing well on this course.”