By Lehlohonolo Lehana live in Steyn City.
All pictures have Mandatory Credit: Suresh Rajcoomar.
Failure to properly credit the photographer and Fullview can result in copyright infringement.
With their longtime dream of bringing LIV Golf to South Africa officially turning into reality, the four members of home favorites Southern Guards GC felt the emotion of the moment in Thursday’s opening round at The Club at Steyn City.
Tears of joy. Goosebumps. Hair-tingling electricity. A sense of pride.
And then they delivered a performance to match, riding the wave of adrenaline and passionate support from the large gallery to the top of the team leaderboard with a collective 18 under for a one-shot lead at LIV Golf South Africa.
None of the Southern Guards foursome could match the scorecards of the Crushers GC duo of captain Bryson DeChambeau and Charles Howell III, who share the individual lead after shooting 8-under 63s. But the all-South African team was happy to end the day on a similar kind of emotional high in which it started.
Top of the Leaderboards
Individual Top 10
T1 (-8) – Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (63); Charles Howell III, Crushers (63)
T3 (-7) – Branden Grace, Southern Guards (64); Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (64)
T5 (-6) – Talor Gooch, Smash (65); Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (65)
T7 (-5) – Cameron Smith, Ripper (66); Charl Schwartzel, Southern Guards (66); Lee Westwood, Majesticks (66); Richard Bland, Cleeks (66); Scott Vincent, Wild Card (66); David Puig, Fireballs (66); Harold Varner III, Smash (66); Thomas Detry, 4Aces (66); Jason Kokrak, Smash (66); Abraham Ancer, Torque (66)
Team Top 3
1 (-18) – Southern Guards (Grace 64, Schwartzel 66, Burmester 67, Oosthuizen 69)
2 (-17) – Smash GC (Gooch 65, Kokrak 66, Varner III 66, McDowell 70)
3 (-16) – Crushers GC (DeChambeau, 63, Howell 63, Lahiri 69, Casey 73)
Click here for full leaderboard.