India’s Shiv Kapur made par on the 9th to go out in a magnificent 30 and stay at -6. He’s just simply got his head down and played golf. Earlier, Zach Johnson seized the early lead at the British Open on Thursday, shooting a 5-under 31 on the front side only four days after losing the John Deere Classic in a playoff.
Among those already in the clubhouse, Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello posted a 4-under 67, fellow countryman Miguel Angel Jimenez got off to a blistering start on the way to 68, while 2004 Open champion Todd Hamilton put up a surprising 69 - his lowest round in the tournament since that improbable victory nine years ago.
‘This game is a lot about confidence,’ said Hamilton, who now plays on a minor-league tour in the US ‘I didn’t really know what to expect. I hit a couple of drives early with the driver and made a few putts and that kind of settled me down, and I didn’t try to do a lot of stuff that I didn’t feel comfortable doing.’
The tournament began with the sun poking through big, puffy clouds along the Scottish coast. The forecast hardly seemed fitting for a British Open: mostly sunny with temperatures climbing. There was a bit of a breeze at the course off the Firth of Forth - the wind is always the main line of defense for a links course - but not enough to be much of a problem.
‘If the wind stays like it is, it’s really not too difficult,’ Hamilton said. ‘If you can take advantage of the par-5s and throw some other birdies in, and stay away from the high numbers, I think somebody is going to shoot a good score.’
Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose both made nightmare starts to the British Open at mighty Muirfield on Thursday as US wedge-king Zach Johnson set the early pace with a 66. World No. 2 McIlroy, desperately seeking the form that has eluded him since he changed clubs at the start of the year, had two double bogeys down the back nine en route to a morale-sapping eight over 79.
The lowest point of his round came at the 15th where he shook his head in disbelief after watching his long putt speed over the rock-hard green and bury itself in a deep pot bunker. A second double-bogey was the end result of that and he looked a disconsolate figure trudging off the 18th green with the question mark over his current form beginning to take on giant proportions.
‘I sort of hung in there. I made sloppy bogeys on four and five, then a good birdie on seven. I let shots get away from me - too many loose shots,’ the 24-year-old McIlroy said. ‘Silly mental errors cost me. I missed the ball in wrong places - you can’t do that with the firmness of the greens. ‘I made stupid mental errors. It’s got so fast and firm. If you’re not in total control of the golf ball it’ll be quite difficult.’
Last month’s US Open winner Rose needed 17 holes before bagging his only birdie of the day and a double-bogey and three bogeys meant that he came in with a disappointing 75.
Both McIlroy and Rose failed to deal with the exceptional conditions at Muirfield, where two weeks of pure Scottish sunshine had left the famed links course running fast and furious. Nick Faldo’s return to Muirfield, where he won the Open twice, failed to find a spark as he struggled to a 78, while ‘golden oldie’ playing partners, Tom Watson and Freddie Couples also found it tough going with a pair of 75s. ‘The golf course is tough, you know. It’s hard work. It’s like glass now,’ said the semi-retired Faldo.