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TSN Senior Reporter

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It might not be as much fun as riding a tractor, but Louis Oosthuizen will take an opening-round lead at the Open Championship.

Oosthuizen, who makes his home on a farm in Ocala, Fla., had the best round of the day, a bogey-free, six-under 64 that saw him birdie six holes in a nine-hole stretch from eight to 16.

“Probably in my mind the perfect round I could have played,” said Oosthuizen. “I didn't make many mistakes. When I had good opportunities for birdie, I made the putts. So, yeah, just a very good, solid round.”

Oosthuizen’s fine score came despite only hitting six fairways. However, he managed to find good lies and was able to advance his ball onto the putting surface more often than not.

The South African golfer shot 64 in the opening round back in 2010 when he won this tournament at the Old Course at St. Andrews. It matches the low opening round for the Open at Royal St. George’s.

Oosthuizen has had a solid major season already. He was runner-up in both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Those were his fifth and sixth second-place finishes in majors, and along with Dustin Johnson, he lays claim to the Silver Slam – second in all four of the big four.

While his golf scores may go up and down, one constant in his life is his farm and especially riding a tractor, something with which he might be classified as obsessed.

“I'm always on the tractor, don't worry,” said Oosthuizen. “I don't need to play good or bad to be on the tractor.”

Oosthuizen’s score was one better than Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman.

Spieth won this tournament in 2017 but fell into a deep hole after that, struggling with his varying parts of his game at different times. He managed his first win since he raised the Claret Jug this year at the Valero Texas Open and has been playing solid golf since that time.

“I guess I feel like I've been trending the right way and certainly had a chance this year already at Augusta,” said Spieth. “Made some mistakes in the first round and second round that I shouldn't have made that I very well could have won that golf tournament this year. I like where I'm at.”

Harman, who has missed the cut in his last four trips to the Open, managed to hit 15 greens in regulation, a stat over which he was ecstatic.

“For me it's about getting on the greens,” said the left-hander. “That's been my struggle this year is trying to get the ball on to the green. I've been putting good. My short game has been great, so I've been able to hang around. But just haven't ironed it that great this year.”

Two Canadians were well up on the leaderboard, with Mackenzie Hughes shooting a 4-under 66 and Corey Conners, a two-under 68.

Some of the pre-tournament favourites weren’t able to keep pace with the leaders, including U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, who battled to a one-over 70. Brooks Koepka, one of the betting favourites heading into the year’s last major, signed for a one-under 69, while Rory McIlroy was a shot higher than that following an up-and-down day.

After a one-over 71 in which he hit just four of 14 fairways, long-hitting Bryson DeChambeau continued playing the blame game as he did after a disastrous final back nine at the U.S. Open that he said was caused by bad luck. This time he was throwing shade at his driver, which he said was the cause of his errant tee shots that allowed him to only find four fairways on the day.

“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that's great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks,” he stated emphatically. “It's not a good face for me and we're still trying to figure out how to make it good on the miss-hits. I'm living on the razor's edge like I've told people for a long time. When I did get it outside of the fairway, like in the first cut and whatnot, I catch jumpers out of there and I couldn't control my wedges.”

Former champion and reigning PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson stumbled to an 80 and was sitting in last place when he ended his day.