ANYONE searching for a Saltire on the leaderboard after the first day of the Open championship at Royal Troon would need to run their finger fairly far down the page. None of the half-dozen Scottish entrants would finish their round under par, already making the chances of a local winner this week for the first time since 1999 seem hugely unlikely.
Most hopes had been pinned on the slender shoulders of Russell Knox. The world number 26 endured a varied round to say the least, with only nine pars telling a story of frustrating bogeys and double bogeys, and heart-warming birdies and even an eagle on 16.
“It was a weird day,” admitted the man from Inverness. “A lot of bizarre things happened and most of them were unfortunate. I holed a wedge from 86 yards, which was nice, but I had no other luck. I hit the pin on a hole, lipped out violently a couple of times, missed a two-footer and plugged in a bunker. So it was a tough day.”
Richie Ramsay’s reward for making it out of his sick bed for his first hit around the course this week was a two-over round of 73. Given there was a chance he might not have played at all given how ill he had felt a few days previously, the Aberdonian was happy with his performance. “I had a really good attitude today,” he said. “I hit maybe one shot that was sort of below average and it was on the green. And I played lovely. I played so steady. I just didn't make anything. But I felt very good today. Maybe I wasn't 100% but I wasn't far off it.
“I'm kind of proud of the way I played and really enjoyed being out there and playing. The crowds were great. And around the Postage Stamp, that was brilliant. I just need to do myself justice a little bit more tomorrow by scoring.”
After an opening round of 72, Paul Lawrie, the 1999 champion, was like The Grand Old Duke of York – neither up nor down. “Tee to green was good but I struggled with the putter again,” was his assessment. “I gave myself a lot of chances but couldn’t convert. I hit a lot poor putts. I have not been holing many putts but I haven’t been hitting a lot of poor ones either. Today I was coming off at a tangent, it was poor.
“The course is great and the conditions were fantastic. The wind dropped down on the last couple of holes. That was a pity as when we played the tough holes it was blowing a little bit. Now it looks like it will calm down a bit. One over was the most I could have been by a couple of shots.”
Alas, it was a day to forget for another former champion Sandy Lyle for whom ’85 – the year in which he won the Open – took on fresh significance after he posted an opening round of 14 over par.
“I was in nearly every bunker you can think of, or I three-putted or I hit bad shots,” he sighed. “It was just bad golf all the way round from the start to the finish. I made one putt from about 50 feet and that was my lot. I had four three-putts shoved in there as well. I was always in the wrong spot somewhere. It was just one of those yukky days.”
It was a similar tale of frustration for Marc Warren who limped in with a six-over par 77, the double-bogey, bogey finish symptomatic of a difficult day for the Scots.
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