Louis Oosthuizen set himself up to win in his first start of the year when the South African shot a seven-under-par 65 to share the first-round lead with Spanish star Pablo Larrazabal at the 19th Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
‘Belgian Bomber’ Nicolas Colsaerts, a Ryder Cup winner in 2012, is one off the pace after belting a bogey-free 66, a score matched by Andrew Johnston of England and Bjorn Akesson of Sweden at a windy Doha Golf Club.
Two-time champion Paul Lawrie shot 67 to share sixth spot with seven others, while four-time Major winner Ernie Els, the 2005 champion, carded a 68 to stay in touch with the leading pack at the US$2.5 million European Tour event.
Defending champion Branden Grace and 2014 winner Sergio Garcia, the event’s highest-ranked players, both shot 70.
Oosthuizen, the current World No. 18 and the field’s third-highest ranked player, last competed in Qatar in 2013. Now 33, the seven-time European Tour winner said he was happy to be back after sinking seven birdies to join Larrazabal at the top of the leaderboard.
“I always play well around here and I just like the golf course. I like playing in the desert. I like the type of shot-making and grainy greens. It brings back a lot of good memories,” said Oosthuizen, who arrived in Doha sporting a new beard after six weeks away from golf.
“I’m most satisfied with being bogey-free today. There were two occasions when I looked like I was going to make bogeys, but I recovered well. The rest was pretty solid. It was good ball striking and I made one or two putts.”
Best known for his Major breakthrough at the 2010 Open Championship, Oosthuizen finished second in both the US Open and The Open Championship last year as he rose back up the rankings, having peaked at World No. 4 in January 2013.
However, he thought his history of winning in his first event of the year – which he did from 2011 through 2014 – stemmed from having some time away from golf. This week marks his first time competing since the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa early last month.
“The only thing I can think of is that it’s the only time I can have proper time away from golf, six to eight weeks, and not really touch a golf club. It’s about just having a good break and a good holiday, and it looks like we need to do that more,” said Oosthuizen, whose time off included a four-wheel-drive trip through the Namib Desert in southern Africa.
“I think it’s because it makes me want to come back just to play and be back on the golf course. I think a lot of times, you lose that by having too hectic a schedule, so the break in December was really nice. I think I should take more breaks like that. I have to say I’m well rested.”
Larrazabal, 32, tied for 26th in Abu Dhabi last week, two years after winning there, and fired out of the blocks at Doha Golf Club with six birdies on the first 12 holes, adding another on 16.
“I’m very happy. I hit it very well tee-to-green and it was a very solid round. I missed only one green on 13, so 17 greens in regulation with these conditions is very good,” said Larrazabal, who won his fourth European Tour title last year at the BMW International Open in Germany.
“I gave myself a lot of birdie chances and that was key. To have a birdie putt is key in these conditions because with these kind of greens, you’re not going to hole too many, but I holed seven.”
Colsaerts, 33, is searching for his first win since the 2012 World Match Play Championship and said his renowned driving game that earned him his nickname was back to its fearsome best.
“When I drive it that well, it makes a round a lot easier,” Colsaerts said. “When it’s on like this, it’s very stress-free. If I’m as good as I was off the tee today, it makes a big difference to the rest of my game because I can come in with shorter irons into the greens,” Colsaerts said.
Like Oosthuizen, Colsaerts said he has benefited from some significant downtime. “I had one of the best winters I’ve had in recent years. Since I didn’t play any Final Series events last season, I stopped a lot earlier than previous years,” Colsaerts said.
“Even though I went to Australia and Thailand and played a couple of events, I felt like it was good to see something else for a while and not get stuck seeing and playing golf with the same people all the time. It was just a matter of playing tournaments without having the stress of rankings, which I had for most of the season last year.”
