Dean Burmester happy to lead Southern Guards charge at LIV Hong Kong

Round 1 on Thursday at the Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling saw some exciting action as Spaniard, Carlos Ortiz of Torque GC, topped the leaderboard at 10-under-par 62, with Burmester just two shots off the pace in second.

The two-time LIV event winner is carrying his SGGC teammates Louis Oosthuizen (+1), Charl Schwartzel (+1) and Branden Grace (-2) into Day 2, but is confident his promising run can inspire his 'brothers' to improve their scores today.

"Look, it's a team sport now and that's probably the positive part about it. Me having a great day I know all of those guys when I see them in a little bit are going to congratulate me and we will probably talk a bit of golf and a little bit of shop but there's also the other side of that coin where if they ask for my help I will get there and give it to them," said Burmester

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"We are very close. We are basically four brothers, and that's the special bond we have and share. We're able to deal with things together, you know. It's not singular anymore and, because of that fact, I know the rest of the team didn't do great today, but they will be pushing because they have seen me do well they want to help us get to the top and get victory.

"We are not out of it, so for that reason I am pretty sure the boys are practicing right now."

Reflecting on his overall opening round, 'Burmy' admitted he made a judgement error on the par-4 9th hole, which he ended up bogeying.

"It was pretty flawless. I made one mental error on (hole) 9 where I should have hit a 2-iron instead of a 3-wood, and I overshot the fairway a little bit and actually got a little bit lucky to make a 5, to be honest.

"But no, I played great from the first tee-shot to all the way through to the last, I hardly missed a golf shot.

"I left a couple of putts out there, but that's golf and I'm very proud of the way I kind of just hung together and kept pushing in birdies.

"I saw a lot of guys making birdies and I managed to go the same because, normally, when that happens you kind of feel like you've got to chase.

"But I never really felt like I was ever doing that, I just felt like I was within myself, so it's one of those good, in-the-zone days, as they would say."

The 36-year-old expects conditions to change through the course of the weekend, and shared possible considerations heading into Saturday and Sunday.

Having finished a disappointing T51 in the 2026 opener in Riyadh before a much-improved T6 in Adelaide last month, Burmester struggled to a T20 on home soil at the SA Open last week but has vowed to fight for consistency leading up to LIV South Africa.

LIV Golf will touch down in Mzansi for the first time in just two weeks – from 19-22 March to round off a triple header including the ongoing Hong Kong and next week's Singapore events.