Most surprising Open round? It came from 1 of the shortest hitters

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Justin Leonard had five basic words for his first 18 holes at the 153rd Open. “It was really fun today,” he said with a big smile. Emphasis on the fun. 

If that feels overly simple, that’s what this sport and course will do to you. Open Championship golf at Royal Portrush is a maze of complexities that reduces even the TV talkers to plainness. By the time Leonard was quick-walking his way from the scoring area, that’s the glut of what he came up with. It was really fun. Frankly, not much more needed to be said. Other than, That was impressive, man!

Leonard is 53 years old, which is right around the age this game starts to forget about you. Players half your age hit it nearly twice as long. His continued presence at this tournament — an exemption until he’s 60 years old, for winning the Open 28 years ago — was questioned by many of the Internet’s most ruthless commenters. 

What’s he doing here? 

Leonard’s definitive answer arrived Thursday evening — a one-under 70, three shots back of the leaders. All at a tournament he’s not trying to win. 

“Look, it’s links golf,” Leonard said, still a bit reductive. “It’s a little different. I can use the ground. Everything doesn’t have to be in the air. That certainly helps.”

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Sure does. Distance is so irrelevant here that even the topic of it — one of the most important topics at every other major this season — doesn’t even squeeze into press conferences. No one is talking about how far the ball flies. They’re talking about how much the rain and wind and firm turf send it offline. Leonard’s golf can play catchup a lot easier, as long as he’s hitting it straight. 

For that, he’s thankful for a little face time with his coach, who he normally just gets on FaceTime, because his coach is Mike Thomas, who spends most of his weeks tailing a different Justin, his son. (His other consigliere is Randy Smith, who devotes most of his time to a guy named Scottie Scheffler.) This is the first time Leonard has been able to work with Mike Thomas in person in four months. On Tuesday and Wednesday they resolved Leonard’s tendency to shut the clubface slightly during his takeaway, and through 18 holes it’s worked brilliantly. When those 18 holes push you squarely in position to make your first major championship cut in 11 years, you have no choice but to think up some lofty targets. 

“I think about Greg Norman back at — what was it — Birkdale [in 2008, at age 53],” Leonard said. “And obviously Tom [Watson] at Turnberry [at 59]. Look, I’m not trying to compare myself to those guys, but it does kind of give you a little, Okay! If I can have a really nice week with the putter, drive the ball well, do everything well — look, I’m not trying to win the golf tournament. But I can play well.”

He’s right about that. As much as the golf world is meant to obsess about the length of Bryson DeChambeau or prowess of Scheffler or importance of Rory McIlroy, there is a renaissance of sorts happening for players in their 40s. See: Justin Rose (-2), Sergio Garcia (-1), Adam Scott (+1). At least one of them seems to pop up at every major these days.

But at this one in particular, you can see a bit of magic kicked up by the generation before them. Fifty-five-year-old Phil Mickelson matched Leonard’s 70 on Thursday. Fifty-two-year-old Lee Westwood did them one better, shooting two under. Leonard admitted that arriving at a major championship after spending most of the year on the Champions Tour feels a bit like diving into the deep end of the pool. But also, why not? He had a tee time here if he wanted it. He loves the golf course. He’s playing the Senior Open next week in the London area. It felt like the right place for a good-golf layover.

“Look, it’s fun,” he said. “You got to be creative and sometimes you throw the number out the window. And just — you know — I enjoy it.”

He started simple, he ended simple. It might be that simple.