“But if I can somehow make a positive change in the world by what I do on the golf course, whether that means raise money for charity or give kids more of a chance in life growing up, I’ve been very fortunate to do what I’ve done in golf, and I feel like I’ve used that success in a positive way”.
Advertisement
Zach Johnson goes out at 2:15pm with Australia’s Adam Scott and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, the latter one of those attempting to break his major duck this week.
Round 1 got under way in the middle of the night USA time, and the first group off the tee was a pretty fair one indeed: Colin Montgomerie (Scotland), Luke Donald (England) and Marc Leishman (Australia).
Willett compared the chip shot onto the centre circle to Royal Troon’s eighth hole known as the Postage Stamp – “almost exactly the same distance”.
On Thursday at Royal Troon, Reed posted a 66 reminiscent of Woods’ masterpiece at Hoylake on his way to an early lead at The Open.
From the time he holed out his tee shot for the ace in 2012 and celebrated exuberantly with caddie and father who was watching from the galleries, Lahiri has cherished the challenge of links golf, which he hopes will spark his return to top form. “Then you get to the par 3, and it’s 220”.
The 29-year-old Lahiri is making his fourth appearance at The Open where he enjoyed a tied 31st outing in his debut in 2012 which included a magical hole-in-one during the third round and equal 30th last year. He deftly batted away a couple from the tabloid press here, including one about his feelings on the outcome of the U.S. Women’s Open where the United States Golf Association fumbled the ruling, just as it did at the men’s edition.
By then, the rest of the “Big Four” – Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy – could all be finishing their opening rounds as they each tee off before 10am.
For McIlroy, though, it is a case of finding his touch on the greens and, perhaps more importantly, avoiding the bogeys and even double-bogeys which have crept into his game this season and derailed him on occasions.
Things went from bad to worse on the par-three 14th as McIlroy dropped another shot after finding the sand from the tee. “But two-under par, shoot something in the 60s, it’s a solid start”. He couldn’t keep it going, settling for three bogeys on the tougher inward nine to fall off the leaderboard.
After being advised by his caddie not to take a five-iron into the 178 yard par-three, the South African hit a six-iron straight at the pin that landed three feet short, bounced once and disappeared into the hole for an ace, bringing him back to level par for the day. A birdie on No. 18 staked Reed to the early lead. Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed are leading the way.
Not the three-putt from 12 feet that cost him a shot at the U.S. Open a year ago. It could have been even better but for a short missed birdie putt at the fifth. Forced to chip out to the back of the green, McIlroy was in three putt territory again, 45 feet from the hole.
Former Masters champion Bubba Watson joined them at four-under as he made shots at four of the first five holes.
Colin Montgomerie, an honorary member of Royal Troon, was first to tee off at 06:35 BST and double-bogeyed the opening hole.
Advertisement
Dawson qualified for Royal Troon by winning the Senior Open at Sunningdale a year ago.
