Daniel Brown begins his impressive round of 65 – image R&A via Getty Images
The opening day of the 152nd Open Championship was quintessential ‘Open Championship’ with squally windy conditions prevailing for most of the day and just 17 of the 157-player field able to break par.
England’s David Brown currently 272nd in the world ranking, grabbed a late solo lead in the event when, playing in the second to last group of the day, he completed a faultless day with a birdie at the last for a round of 65 and a one shot lead over 2019 champion Shane Lowry.
Brown, whose only win in a recognised professional event came when successful at last year’s ISP Handa World Invitational on the DP World Tour, is playing in his first major and when asked after his round whether his effort had expected his expectations he responded in the obvious manner.
“Yeah, obviously it did, very much so,” he said “I was watching The Open before I went out this morning on TV in the house, and you’re kind of looking at how tough it is. There was only a few guys at 1-under, 2-under, and you obviously know it’s going to be tough.
“Thankfully, the wind died a little bit for our back nine, so it got a bit more scorable, I think.”
“I wouldn’t say I had any (expectations) really). I just kind of try to go day by day. I’m not a huge goal-setter, to be honest.
“I was playing well leading up to the tournament, so scores haven’t really reflected it recently. But, yeah, I felt comfortable and probably a bit more calm than you normally would be with it being your first major.”
Lowry had the lead to himself after he birdied the last but late in the day Brown birdied the 16th to join him at 5 under then the 18th to snatch the opening round lead.
Lowry was also bogey-free on a day when it was near impossible to keep one off a card.
“I’ve played pretty good,” said the Irishman. “I’m pretty happy, but it’s only one day. We’ve got three more days. I kept telling myself that out there because for some reason I felt like the crowd were getting very excited out there. It was late in the afternoon. A few points the attendance was high out there, I’d say.
“They were quite excitable out there, and it felt more like the weekend. I just kept on telling myself there’s a lot more to do and there’s a few days left, so I just kind of stayed in my lane and hit some good shots, and I was pretty happy with how I handled myself.”
While the wind direction to day was not the usual northerly so often prevailing at this time of year, Lowry had played the course a couple of weeks ago in similar wind conditions as today and was happy he had.
“Yeah, it (today’s wind) did change a lot because we played the front nine down and the back nine into the wind in all our practice rounds. But fortunately enough I came here two weeks ago and I played this wind on the second day that I played here. I saw the golf course in every wind possible I could see it.
“Yeah, I guess that was a good thing to do, and it’s out there paying off a little bit today.”
Adam Scott – leads the down under brigade – image R&A via Getty Images
Adam Scott leads the Australians in a share of 11th place after his opening round of 70. Out early in the day and perhaps experiencing some of the worst conditions, Scott started well with a birdie at the first and made the turn in 2 under 34. He was wide with his tee shot at the 13th and dropped a shot but birdied the 15th by holing a ten footer before driving it too far at the 16th into the burn and dropped another shot.
It was however a solid follow-up to his runner-up finish at the Scottish Open last week.
“It was pretty solid, said the Queenslander. “I think the wind change kind of made the back nine play tough even though it was downwind. I hadn’t really played in that wind and made a couple of errors, but it was a fairly uneventful day. I played solid and pretty happy to start under par.
“My game is finally in some decent shape where I feel like I’m controlling the ball well. That’s what you need to do out here, especially if you’re going to give yourself a lot of chances.
“It’s sometimes easy to scrap it around the links, but you’re not going to hole a lot of 40-footers. So at some point you’re going to need to hit some really quality iron shots from the fairway to get it in close to some tucked pins and give yourself more realistic chances. They’re the guys who are going to be up there at the end of the week.”
Min Woo Lee is another shot back in a share of 18th place after his morning round of even par 71, three birdies in his last four holes a great tonic for what lies ahead.
Yeah, amazing,” said Lee referring to the experience. “My caddie and I knew it was going to be a tough day. Especially the back nine is really tough. Just made a quick double, which I thought wasn’t going to be over the road, but it was just one of those things where it was one of the hardest holes on the course.
“Managed to hit a lot of good shots on the back nine, the last four, five, six holes, and converted them. I was getting close. My putts would feel like the putts I’ve just missed, where it read well but just left short. I just needed to hit it harder and they went in.”
Ryan Fox, Jason Day and Kazuma Kobori are the next-best of the ten-strong Australasian contingent at 2 over par.
Kobori did well in just his second major championship after missing the cut by several at the PGA Championship in May but he knew he had been in a battle.
“Just like one of the most mentally challenging rounds of golf I’ve ever played, said the Australiasian Order of Merit winner. “All in all, not disappointed with plus 2. Could have been better, could have been worse. It is what it is.
“It was a different story at the PGA, so feels like the work that I’ve put in between then and now has paid dividends, which is quite rewarding. I’m looking forward to giving it my best shot tomorrow as well.”
The shock amongst the Australians was the round of 80 by Cam Smith.
The cut appears as if it will fall around 5 over par as similar conditions are expected tomorrow.
