The patience that is famously required of those capable of winning golf's greatest championships was sorely tested at Castle Stuart yesterday.
In the end, however, all those in the most decorated three ball at the Barclay’s Scottish Open managed to maintain their composure.
With eight Major titles among them Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Phil Mickelson were always going to attract most attention from the galleries but, while they provided the occasional thrill, the two Europeans know they will have to do better to close on the leaders, while their American partner’s first task is to make the cut.
For Harrington, making his first appearance in the event this century, it began promisingly enough with birdies at the second and third holes. However some careless errors, most notably a wayward drive at the long 12th which cost him a penalty stroke and resulted in a bogey at arguably the easiest hole on the course, left him thankful for another brace of birdies at the last two holes.
“Those two birdies turned a slightly below average round into a slightly above average one,” he admitted. “It is always nice when you finish well but I felt I should have done a lot better before then. I struggled and played a lot of shots to 15 or 20ft. No matter how good you putt it is hard to hole those lengths of putts. I got a little bit frustrated, three putted one par 5 and then hit a bad drive at the other, so I struggled at the obvious birdie holes.
“The conditions were tough and there were a few times the ball looked like it might moved, but it has been great in terms of preparation for the Open and getting the touch back on the links. You have to get used to aiming miles right of the green because you have to commit to those shots in the wind.”
While two-time Open champion Harrington had pretty much made it a condition for him returning to this event that it be played over a links, Mickelson -- who admits to having put in only one decent Open showing in two decades of competing -- had waxed lyrical about his love of links golf and of this course ahead of the event.
He consequently had little choice but to accept that his problems were of his own making as he toiled down the closing stretch to finish on one-over-par, well off the pace. “I was playing well there for a while and had it a few under par after not the greatest start and then I made double bogey on 14 and that kinda derailed the round,” he said. “I then let birdies slide on 16 and 18, but it was a great day for scoring and guys had opportunities.
“I thought the course played terrific, I just didn’t get the score done. I played reasonably well though and wasn’t disappointed with the way I played. I’m just disappointed with the way I scored.
“I had a couple of three putts and it wasn’t that bad, but I just threw a few shots away around the green. My short game was not very good. I took four shots on one hole and missed up and down opportunities on a few others. I’m surprised because usually I would expect that to be my strength and I would salvage some shots, whereas I really let a lot go today.”
The three-time US Masters champion took the view that his experience only reinforced the benefit of playing here this week. “I can’t let my scoring affect the way I view the course or the game, though,” he said. “I thought this course played perfectly. It’s just a wonderful test. When you play well there’s a lot of low scores out there.
“It’s great that I’m here and challenging myself on those shots. Sometimes I’m still debating whether I want to go through the air or go over the ground. It’s really a strategic course that makes you think and choose the right shot.”
Perhaps most entitled of the lot to be frustrated with his experience was the man who most used to playing on the Scottish links. Lawrie was a model of solidity off the tee and with his approach play but, not for the first time, struggled to get the ball in the hole.
“I had one single putt on the front nine and two single putts on the back nine, so that was very poor, but I played nicely tee to green,” he said. “I’ll just go and do what I normally do in practice and try to get a feeling. I just felt uncomfortable on the greens all day today. It was weird, I just didn’t feel right all day. The greens are good. I don’t know, I’ve just been struggling a bit on them, one day good and one day bad. Unfortunately today was the poor day, but the positive is that I played nicely and it should have been a few less.”
Having battled with a shoulder injury in the last fortnight he also took some satisfaction from swinging as well as he did, adding: “In the middle of last week I didn’t know if I would be playing, so I’ve still got tomorrow and a chance to improve.”
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