McIlroy is the third favorite to win the British Open ahead of Spieth. Forecasts call for rain, windy and a hard day to score on the second day of competition in Scotland.
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“It was fun”, he said after the round on Golf Channel. And he, like everyone else at Troon, is bracing himself for completely different weather conditions, with Friday’s forecast for rain and stiff winds.
Mickelson’s 63 is the 28th in major championship history and the ninth at The Open.
Bidding to become the oldest Open victor since Old Tom Morris in 1867, the 46-year-old said only his final-round 66 to seal victory three years ago could top Thursday’s effort.
“It’s one of these golf courses that allows you to get off to a quick start, allows you to get nearly over-confident and cocky, and all of a sudden you get a little too careless on the back nine and you can go shoot 31-41”.
It’s been more than two years since Kaymer’s eight-shot, wire-to-wire victory at the US Open at Pinehurst.
“To have played this round and walk away feeling like I want to cry is a very awkward feeling”.
That was good enough to put him within a shot of early co-leaders Mickelson and Reed Patrick, who were both 5-under at the time. His round including holing out his second shot from the fairway at the third hole for an eagle.
Like Reed, Thomas turned in 31, but struggled coming in and needed a birdie at the last for a 4-under 67 and a tie with Stricker for second.
Scott’s 27-under-par aggregate total over the past four years is six shots superior to anyone in the world – yet the former world No.1 has fallen agonisingly short on all four occasions. Keeping the European flag flying are Germany’s Martin Kaymer at five under and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen four under.
None of the “Big Four” scored as well as little-known Belgian Thomas Pieters who is appearing in his first major championship and carded a 68.
That would be the 482-yard, par-4 11th hole, where Kristoffer Broberg (77), David Duval (82) and Steven Bowditch (79) all made 9s. I knew it. And with a foot to go, I thought I had done it. “It took me 10 years to figure it out, to understand where is the best place for me to play my best golf”.
But a double-bogey on 13 and a bogey on 14 ended his run. He birdied 15 to get back to 2 under.
“I think if I would’ve stepped on the first tee and someone would have given me a 69, I probably would have taken it”, McIlroy said.
What did you make of Phil Mickelson’s putt for a 62? I saw that ball going in and I just had a good, clear vision of what was going to happen.
A five-time major champion, Mickelson missed the cut at the Masters and US Open this year.
“Yet at home it’s golf, sit in traffic, traffic lights, a thousand cars, people honking at you, and then you get home and you’re trying to go through a busy hotel, so it’s still stressful off the golf course”, he said.
He roared to the turn in 32, including a birdie at the tricky par-three eighth – known as the Postage Stamp – which cost Bubba Watson a triple-bogey six.
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Few have even been able to approach that fabled “62” number in a major championship, and that last lip-out will obviously stick with him for a bit through the evening – he mentioned nearly breaking down to tears at the moment he saw the replay after the round. Spieth was heard uttering rare words I cant buy a putt on his way to a 71, while Day made it three straight majors as the No. 1 player in which he failed to break par in the opening round. With his length and superb putting, Day is never out of contention, but he must turn things around in a hurry.
