TROON, Scotland — Hopefully the coffee is warm back in the States — or from wherever you’re watching The Open — because it’s chilly, windy and downright uncomfortable at Royal Troon Thursday.
The 152nd Open kicked off with Justin Leonard’s opening tee shot, which found the right side of the fairway; Leonard made his way around without a single birdie, carding an 80. Todd Hamilton, another former Open champion, shot 82. But you didn’t come here to hear about the older gents. You came to hear what happened while you were sleeping.
This Open started with some…
Leaderboard ejections!
Two of them, to be exact. The first came from Younghan Song, the 33-year-old Korean who qualified last month via the Korea Open. Song was atop the leaderboard early, reaching four under after making birdie on the Postage Stamp 8th. But danger lurks everywhere on a links course in brutal conditions.
Song’s tee ball on 11 was wiped weakly out to the right and in the fescue. Then his second shot crossed the fairway and was lost in the gorse. After taking a drop, his fourth shot crossed the fairway again, ending up in the fescue. He reached the green with this sixth shot, cleaning up for triple bogey from 3.5 feet on his seventh stroke. He signed for an even-par 71.
A painfully similar fate befell Matt Wallace. After also making birdie on the Postage Stamp, Wallace knifed his approach into the 9th wide right of the green, disappearing straight into a gorse bush. The tracking shots you’ll see on TV this week, from the cranes that stretch high into the sky — well, they offer a side angle as shots descend back to earth. Whenever the ball just disappears into the thick, thorny, green stuff, it’s automatic reload. Wallace made a triple of his own, dropping from four under down to one under.
Bryson’s bogey train
The reigning U.S. Open champion, Bryson DeChambeau, was the only golfer who was asked earlier this week if it was possible to “overpower” this golf course. And the question made sense at the time, given DeChambeau’s prominent long game. But he was sensible enough to say no, it wasn’t possible, and that seems like a good thing at the moment. Because Royal Troon had its way with DeChambeau Thursday morning.
It all started with a three-putt bogey at the 1st. Then a horribly wayward tee shot on 3 added another bogey. Multiple shots from the fescue on the 4th added another bogey. Then there was the par-5 6th, where he advanced his second shot just five yards in the fescue and reached the green with his fifth swing, leading to a double. Another bogey followed at the short, par-3 8th, where the cross-wind grabbed his ball and pushed it wide of the tight landing strip.
All in it was an opening 42 that might keep DeChambeau from making the weekend here in the west of Scotland. The one thing he had going for him was the 10th hole was the first he could actually play downwind.
Opposite wind wreaks havoc
Many players have discussed this course as a tale of two nines, given that the majority of the front nine runs out along the coast and the majority of the back runs in the opposite direction inland. But the prevailing wind at this property has players playing the front nine downwind and the back nine into the wind. Just not on Thursday morning.
Royal Troon played directly opposite what the players experienced in preparation this week, with a brisk wind and rain in their face on the first shot of the day. Nothing ideal about that. If you ask Alex Noren, though, that’s the easier direction of wind, considering the back nine plays about 300 yards longer than the front, and to a lesser, par 35. It can make life tricky for even the best players in the world, who have to keep driver in the bag on the inward nine, just to keep from reaching one of the many fairway bunkers that can ruin a round.
You’d forgive Noren for calling it the easier nine, too. He went out early and carded the clubhouse-leading two-under 69. He didn’t play great, but rather managed his way around the course, he said, leaving us with a simple thought before heading inside for a warm lunch: “It’s going to play tricky, but people are going to shoot under par, I think.”
We’ll see if he’s right.
