Centurion – South Africa’s Garrick Higgo and Dylan Frittelli carded a pair of two-under 68s to share 10th place at the Honda Classic at the Champions Course in Florida, on Thursday.
American Kurt Kitayama leads the way on six-under 64, one ahead of former South African Rory Sabbatini who now represents Slovakia.
Higgo began his day on the 10th tee, and was off and running when he holed a monster 73-foot birdie putt at the par four 11th. He gave that shot back with a bogey five at 13, before holing another long birdie putt - this time a 35-footer at the par three 17th. Another gain followed at the par five ninth as the 22-year-old made the turn in two-under.
A birdie four at the third followed, and a three at the par four fourth moved Higgo to four-under for the round. However, bogeys at the par threes - the fifth and seventh - dropped Higgo back down the leaderboard, but he still held a place in the top-10 to conclude his round.
All @Garrick_Higgo can do is laugh.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 24, 2022
Tough lip out on his eagle putt. pic.twitter.com/sgtDPJpQc0
Frittelli, meanwhile, began his day with eight straight pars after also starting on the 10th. A birdie at the par five 18th meant he dipped under par as he began his assault of the front nine.
The 31-year-old Frittelli poured in an 11-footer at the par four second for birdie to move to three-under, before a two-putt birdie at the par five third meant a rise to three-under. A missed green at the par four fourth resulted in a bogey, before a pulled tee shot into a water hazard at the par four sixth meant another bogey for Frittelli as he dropped to one-under.
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A solid tee shot at the 213-metre par three seventh left a 10-footer for birdie which Frittelli nailed to get back to two-under. A couple pars to finish his round meant Frittelli sealed a solid opening effort.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout also carded a good opening round, with his one-under 69 in a tie of 28th.
Charl Schwartzel and Dawie van der Walt battled to scores of four-over 74 and were way down the leaderboard in a share of 112th.
The surprise of the day, from a South African perspective, was the five-over 75 by Louis Oosthuizen. On a course that should be well-suited to the solid ball striking of Oosthuizen, he finds himself in 123rd position and will need a much-improved second round if he is to make the cut.