Oosthuizen in WGC-Mexico lead

Alate eagle boosted smooth-swinging Louis Oosthuizen to the first-roundlead as a diverse mix of players lined up close behind the South Africanat the WGC-Mexico Championship on Thursday.The former British Openchampion offered a timely reminder that on his day he is still among thegame’s elite as he carded a bogey-free seven-under-par 64 at Club deGolf Chapultepec in Mexico City.He headed Xander Schauffele,Shubhankar Sharma and Chris Paisley by a stroke on a day when defendingchampion 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.Injust his second PGA Tour start of the year, Oosthuizen ran off fivebirdies before landing a four-foot eagle at the par-five 15th, whichplays 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 themoment. I’ve got a nice little cut going, and it’s nice to be able tojust 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.“Youcan get one with a short iron and it just blows your mind how far itgoes and then the next hole you come up short. It’s all about the ballflight you put on it.”Sharma shines with Georgia on his mindShubhankarSharma made an eye-opening World Golf Championships debut as the Indianprospect carded a six-under-par 65 in the first round.Already twicea winner this season on the European Tour, the 21-year-old said, “I’mreally 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.Despiterecent victories in South Africa and Malaysia, and leading the EuropeanTour’s Race to Dubai standings, Sharma has yet to qualify for the firstmajor 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.TheMasters has a tradition of occasionally inviting a non-exempt Asianplayer, raising the intriguing possibility that Sharma might yet receivea prized summons, even if he doesn’t qualify automatically.But hewould rather make it a moot point and with a strong finish could qualifyas early as this week. With the nerves settled, it is full steam ahead.“Tobe honest, I’m actually relaxed now,” he said. “I just wanted the firstround to get out of the way,” said Sharma, who has been hooked on golfever since he was introduced to the game by his father as asix-year-old.“You’re always very happy when you start with such alow round, especially for me. This is such a big event, I would say thisis taking some pressure off me, playing well on this course.”