The Open is underway, with Aussie veteran Adam Scott offering the early spotlight of the primary spherical, chipping in from the bunker on the opening gap on the way in which to taking pictures a stable 1-under in testing circumstances at Royal Troon.
Scott wasn’t blissful along with his second shot, which discovered one of many a number of bunkers on 1, however made up for it with an aesthetic chip from the deep entice, which rolled into the outlet.
Compatriot Min Woo Lee is one shot again at even par, with two late birdies rocketing him again into competition after a gradual begin as rivals got here to grips with a U-turn within the route the wind is blowing from observe rounds earlier this week.
Beginner entrant Jasper Stubbs endured a troublesome debut within the British Open when taking pictures 9-over, however was far stronger on the again 9 and completed the spherical with a birdie to supply him with some optimism heading into the second spherical.
“It was fairly stable,” he stated.
“ I believe the wind change … made the again 9 play more durable, though it was down wind, (as a result of) I hadn’t actually performed in that wind and I made a few errors. Nevertheless it was pretty uneventful day, so I’ve performed stable and fairly blissful to begin off beneath par.”
Whereas the again 9 is historically extra testing than the entrance at Troon, which is commonly described as a story of two programs, the change in wind assisted golfers in dealing with a number of the extra testing par 4s.
However that didn’t imply it was much less tough, with Scott over-clubbing on 16 because of this.
“On these holes … the final time I performed it was 2-irons and 3-irons into each gap (whereas) at the moment it was a sand wedge into 15,” he stated. “Attempting to determine that out, it was a bit like a observe run again 9 at the moment. I made an error on 16, received one an excessive amount of off the tee and it value me a bogie, however aside from that all the pieces was good.”
The 44-year-old, who completed runner-up within the Scottish Open final week, feels in higher management of his recreation than he has in years and is hopeful of being in competition at Troon on the weekend.
“It’d be nice as a result of my recreation is lastly in some first rate form the place I really feel like I’m controlling the ball nicely,” he stated.
“(That’s one thing) you could do out right here, particularly in case you’re going to provide your self a variety of possibilities. It’s typically straightforward to scrap it across the hyperlinks, however you’re not going to carry a variety of 40 foot (putts).
“So sooner or later, you’re going to want to hit some actually high quality iron pictures from the golf green to get in near some robust pins and provides your self extra sensible possibilities. They’re the fellows who’re going to be up there on the finish of the week.”
Lee began slowly with consecutive bogeys on the second and third holes and double-bogeyed the eleventh however performed the final 4 holes in 3-under to complete sq. with the cardboard.
He struggled early with the tempo of the greens, saying it felt like he was “smashing the putt however developing brief”.
“It was superb. My caddie and I knew that it was going to be a troublesome day and, particularly, the again 9 is actually robust,” he stated.
“I made a rapid double … however, you already know, it was simply a kind of issues the place you already know it is without doubt one of the hardest holes on (the) course. (However) I managed to hit a variety of good pictures on the again 9 over the past 4 or 5 – 6 holes and I used to be changing them.
“I used to be getting shut. I really feel just like the putts that I’ve simply missed, I learn nicely, however simply left it shorter, so I simply wanted to hit a more durable they usually went in.”
Stubbs, in the meantime, was relieved to complete with a birdie on the 18th after a testing begin wherein he put his opening tee shot out of bounds when pushing it in the direction of the Firth of Clyde on path to taking pictures a 9-over the cardboard.
“I completed fairly properly … but, yeah, I simply received off to an annoying begin to say the least,” he informed foxsports.com.au
“It isn’t an excellent signal while you hit one OOB off the primary, however it’s what it’s and I moved on. It didn’t get any higher from there for some time however I fought again on the again 9.”
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There was rain forecast throughout all 4 days of The Open, and a light-weight bathe has already handed by means of Royal Troon however hasn’t disrupted play.
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PREVIEW AND TEE TIMES
The ultimate males’s main of 2024 has arrived, with the 152nd Open teeing off at Royal Troon on Thursday.
But the tough hyperlinks course is ready to pose a good more durable problem than normal within the opening spherical, with usually moist and wild Scottish circumstances set to wreak havoc on a area that features six Aussie hopefuls.
The UK Meteorological Workplace’s official forecast for the weekend predicts rain on all 4 days of the event, with the heaviest more likely to come on Saturday within the third spherical.
However even the opening spherical is ready for drizzle – doubtless on-and-off – in addition to winds of 12-15mph (19-24km/h), gusting as much as 20-25mph (32-40km/h). The rain and winds are more likely to be at their heaviest within the afternoon, which means late starters might be in for some hassle.
That features the likes of Aussie stars Jason Day and Cameron Smith, in addition to stars resembling Tiger Woods, world primary Scottie Scheffler, and a number of contenders together with Xander Schauffele.
However with Scottish coastal climate all the time unpredictable, loads of gamers will merely be trying on the skies and hoping for the perfect as they make their method round Royal Troon.
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THURSDAY’S (ROUND 1) TEE TIMES (AEST)
Gamers are from the USA if not said in any other case; Aussies in daring, (x) exhibits amateurs
3.35pm Justin Leonard, Todd Hamilton, Jack McDonald (Sco)
3.46 Tom McKibbin (NIrl), Alex Noren (Swe), Calum Scott (Sco) (x)
3.57 Jesper Svensson (Swe), Vincent Norrman (Swe), Michael Hendry (Nzl)
4.08 Younghan Music (Kor), Daniel Hillier (Nzl), Ryosuke Kinoshita (Jpn)
4.19 Min Woo Lee (Aus), Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Abraham Ancer (Mex)
4.30 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Adam Scott (Aus), Keita Nakajima (Jpn)
4.41 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Justin Rose (Eng), Jasper Stubbs (Aus) (x)
4.52 Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im (Kor), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
5.03 Nick Taylor (Can), Matt Wallace (Eng), Laurie Canter (Eng)
5.14 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Shubhankar Sharma (Ind)
5.25 Zach Johnson, Austin Eckroat, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
5.36 John Daly, Santiago de la Fuente (Mex) (x), Aaron Rai (Eng)
5.47 Stewart Cink, Chris Kirk, Dominic Clemons (Eng) (x)
6.03 Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Adam Schenk, Joaquin Niemann (Chl)
6.14 Adam Hadwin (Can), Lucas Glover, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa)
6.25 Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
6.36 Jon Rahm (Esp), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
6.47 Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Bryson DeChambeau, Tom Kim
6.58 Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Sahith Theegala
7.09 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
7.20 Keegan Bradley, Will Zalatoris, Gordon Sargent (x)
7.31 Harris English, Maverick McNealy, Alexander Bjork (Swe)
7.42 Guido Migliozzi (Ita), Sean Crocker, Tommy Morrison (x)
7.53 David Puig (Esp), John Catlin, Guntaek Koh (Kor)
8.04 Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Daniel Bradbury (Eng), Elvis Smylie (Aus)
8.15 Nacho Elvira (Esp), Minkyu Kim (Kor), Darren Fichardt (Rsa)
8.26 Mason Andersen, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Sam Hutsby (Eng)
8.47 Ewen Ferguson (Sco), Marcel Siem (Ger)
8.58 CT Pan (Tpe), Romain Langasque (Fra), Yuto Katsuragawa (Jpn)
9.09 Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn), Angel Hidalgo (Esp), Richard Mansell (Eng)
9.20 Corey Conners (Can), Ryan Fox (Nzl), Jorge Campillo (Esp)
9.31 Ernie Els (Rsa), Gary Woodland, Altin van der Merwe (Rsa) (x)
9.42 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Jacob Skov Olesen (Den) (x)
9.53 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Billy Horschel, Victor Perez (Fra)
10.04 Sepp Straka (Aut), Brendon Todd, Jordan Smith (Eng)
10.15 Denny McCarthy, Taylor Moore, Adrian Meronk (Pol)
10.26 Jason Day (Aus), Byeong Hun An (Kor), Rickie Fowler
10.37 Alex Cejka (Ger), Eric Cole, Kurt Kitayama
10.48 Darren Clarke (NIrl), JT Poston, Dean Burmester (Rsa)
11.04 Phil Mickelson, Joost Luiten (Ned), Dustin Johnson
11.15 Padraig Harrington (Irl), Davis Thompson, Matthew Jordan (Eng)
11.26 Wyndham Clark, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Brooks Koepka
11.37 Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay
11.48 Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim (Kor)
11.59 Shane Lowry (Irl), Cameron Smith (Aus), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
‘The toughest gap on the planet’ | 01:04
Friday morning AEST
12.10am Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Younger
12.21 Akshay Bhatia, Tom Hoge, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
12.32 Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Ben Griffin, Mackenzie Hughes (Can)
12.43 Yannik Paul (Ger), Joe Dean (Eng), Andy Ogletree
12.54 Ryan van Velzen (Rsa), Charlie Lindh (Swe), Luis Masaveu (Esp) (x)
1.05 Kazuma Kobori (Nzl), Jaime Montojo Fernandez (Esp) (x), Liam Nolan (Irl) (x)
1.16 Daniel Brown (Eng), Denwit David Boriboonsub (Tha), Matthew Dodd-Berry (Eng) (x)
1.27 Jeunghun Wang (Kor), Aguri Iwasaki (Jpn), Sam Horsfield (Eng)
STAR FUMES AT CADDY WHACK
Shane Lowry has leapt to defend the caddie of excellent pal Rory McIlroy, Harry Diamond, who was closely criticised after McIlroy’s late choke on the US Open.
McIlroy had a two shot lead on the again 9 however bogeyed three of the final 4 holes to lose the event, with a lot of the criticism for the late collapse directed at Diamond.
Now Lowry, a two-time Ryder Cup teammate of McIlroy and Olympics teammate for Eire in 2021, has lashed the critics.
“It makes my blood boil, to be sincere,” Lowry informed BBC Sport NI.
“Individuals don’t see how laborious Harry works and the way good he’s for Rory. Simply because he’s not standing in the midst of the tee field like different caddies who need to be seen and heard doesn’t imply that his voice isn’t heard by Rory.”
“He works more durable than any of the caddies out right here,” he added. “He’s the perfect caddie for Rory. I’ll struggle that with anybody that desires to. I’ll argue that with anybody who needs to argue with me.”