“It’s nice that the tournament started”, McIlroy said after opening with a 2-under 69.
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Now after a 4-under 67 that included a 2-under 33 on the back nine, the Wisconsin native is in the hunt for his first major title.
We can report Bones eventually got up and made his way to the scoring area, but he looked devastated. He had a 73.
Patrick Reed and Martin Kaymer are tied for second after they each posted a five-under-par 66.
“It is the hardest tee-shot in the world, it’s not a nice place to be in, and you feel as if you have the whole world watching”. I just had a good, clear vision of what was going to happen. Day two’s forecast is of the kind normally reserved for Glastonbury: persistent and heavy rain with ever-increasing gusts, potentially reaching 35mph later before close of play. McIlroy, even with his roots in Northern Ireland, is not regarded as a player who thrives in bad weather. Mickelson finished with a scintillating eight-under 63, which was good enough for a three-stroke lead, but it felt like he’d been hosed by the darned deities. He almost made a hole-in-one at No. 8 – the famed “Postage Stamp” hole – his ball rolling right up to the edge of the cup for a tap-in birdie, roughly the length of a postage stamp.
Day takes his No. 1 ranking seriously. “It’s a good start, It’s a very good start”. Dropped shots on the back nine sent him to a 72 at the Masters.
Fifty players broke par in the opening round. His frustration at the U.S. Open has been particularly galling after finishing second a record six times and twice blowing great opportunities to win the final leg of the career Grand Slam. “I need to play better, obviously, the next three days if I want to be up there”.
“Quite honestly it’s probably what I deserved”, Johnson said. “Especially over here, because I knew it was going to be tough on me being able to control not only the height but the speed through the golf ball”. He said: “Every time I hit an iron I kept missing everything left and it caught me off guard”. It’s such a rare opportunity to do something historic like that and. if I had just hit a weak flail-off and never had a chance and left it short, so be it.
Phil Mickelson of the United States wipes his club as caddie Jim Mckay looks at his notebook as he waits to play from the 16th fairway during the second round of the British Open Golf Championships at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, Friday, July 15, 2016.
He stared for the longest time at a leaderboard next to the 17th green, realizing that even par wasn’t going to cut it on a ideal day as this. “So because of that, I’m not thinking much of it”.
When he bogeyed No. 18, after his tee shot sailed near the right grandstand, he walked off the course in a tie for 35th.
In his first round at a major since winning the U.S. Open, Johnson played a round that usually gets rewarded at a U.S. Open – 14 pars, two birdies, two bogeys.
The Americans were queuing up to rip Royal Troon to shreds on a day when the sun shone and a gentle breeze offered no resistance.
History had been made in front of the transfixed Open Championship galleries by the American magician but it had simultaneously slipped through his fingers.
The top four players in the world were a combined even par. “I hit two really errant shots coming in, and I hit some I guess you’d say approach shots, pitches and misjudged the putts, misread the putts, but two really errant shots that cost me”.
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That’s true at any major.
