Ill wind blows up Pinehurst power duo
DeChambeau, McIlroy now in scramble mode; Is Monty right about Tiger?
Rory McIlroy was puzzled by conditions (Stuart Franklin/R&A via Getty Images)
TROON, SCOTLAND — For the two primary protagonists from the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, the Open Championship at Royal Troon is over nearly before it started.
U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and runner-up Rory McIlroy find themselves playing just to make the cut on Friday afternoon, their hopes of another major dashed in the wind at Royal Troon.
The strange thing about it? They acted as if they were surprised.
These guy are veteran pros who’ve competed in all manner of playing conditions, not the least of which are the ever-changing weather patterns of a British summer.
Instead, it’s unheralded Englishman Daniel Brown who surprisingly burst into the lead lad after making six birdies and no bogeys for a 6-under 65 that was one better than 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, whose 66 also did not include a bogey.
“It did change a lot because we played the front nine down and the back nine into the wind in all our practice rounds,” Lowry said of the unusual conditions that arrived as forecasted. “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.
“I guess that was a good thing to do, and it’s out there paying off a little bit today.”
Brown — who has a single DP World Tour title to his name at the 2023 ISPS Handa World International in Northern Ireland — handled the conditions beautifully. And he’s playing in his first major championship.
McIlroy, certainly, should know better. He grew up in Northern Ireland and understands that what you see one day can be completely different than the next. And yet, the changing in weather pattern threw him off as he shot 7-over 78 on Thursday.
DeChambeau shot 76, recovering a bit from a brutal 6-over on the front with an eagle on the par-5 16th hole. The two players combined to shoot 12-over par with just one birdie and one eagle between them.
“The course was playing tough,” said McIlroy, who made one birdie, two doubles and four bogeys. “The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven’t seen so far this week.
“I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course. But then when you get a wind you haven’t played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven’t hit in practice.
“Just one of those days where I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions.”
DeChambeau had similar sentiments.
“Yeah, it’s a completely different test,” said DeChambeau, who noted he had some equipment issues to work out in light of the cooler temperatures and the golf ball not “compressing” as much. “I didn’t get any practice in it, and I didn’t really play much in the rain. It’s a difficult test out here. Something I’m not familiar with. I never grew up playing it, and not to say that that’s the reason; I finished eighth at St. Andrews (in 2022). I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.”
Bryson DeChambeau recovered a bit from horrendous start (Harry How/Getty Images)
That certainly wasn’t the case Thursday. After relatively mild conditions during the practice rounds, players arrived to cold rain and a different wind, one that was coming out of the south. That meant the opening holes — typically the easiest part of the course played down the prevailing winds — played far tougher.
McIlroy actually managed them well enough, following an opening bogey with a birdie on No. 3. But at the short eighth hole, known as the Postage Stamp, the fine line of links golf came into play.
The four-time major winner hit a tee shot that appeared fine, but was simply too close to the edge of the green, rolling off into a bunker. From there, McIlroy hit his shot out only to to see it roll back in. That led to a double-bogey 5.
“But still, felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through nine, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that,” McIlroy said. “Then hitting the ball out of bounds on 11, making a double there. Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left. I was actually surprised how difficult I felt like the back nine played. I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did.”
McIlroy was unable to add any birdies and had bogeys at 15 and 18 holes to shoot his highest score since a 79 in the first round of the 2021 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
In 2019, McIlroy began the Open with a 79 at Royal Portrush and furiously rallied the following day to try and make the cut but came up short.
“That’s all I can focus on,” he said.
DeChambeau was more optimistic. After his poor first nine, he calmed down, with a bogey at the 15th and an eagle at 16 to climb to T96 and just two shots outside the top 70 that make the cut.
“I’m just proud of the way I persevered today,” DeChambeau said. “Shoot, man, I could have thrown in the towel after nine and could have been like, ‘I’m going home.’ But no, I’ve got a chance tomorrow. I’m excited for the challenge. If I have some putts go in and hit some shots the way I know how to and figure out this equipment stuff, I’ll be good.”
Tiger Woods looked about as miserable as Monty said he would (Luke Walker/R&A via Getty Images)
The good news? Tiger broke 80
By Alex Miceli
TROON, SCOTLAND — It is a monumental achievement if you are a 10-year-old sitting around the dining room table with your parents sketching out your future in junior golf. but when you have 15 major championship trophies sitting on your mantle, shooting 79 in a major is not much to crow about.
Tiger Woods was full of understatements when asked about a round that included two doubles bogeys, six bogeys and two birdies on Thursday at Royal Troon in the first round of the 152nd Open.
Understatement 1: “I didn't do a whole lot of things right today. I made that putt on the third hole, and then I think I had, what, three three-putts today. I didn’t hit my irons very close, and I didn’t give myself many looks today.”
When Woods made a birdie on the third hole, he was 1-under and on the leaderboard for a nanosecond. And then his fall was slow and painful as he saw his game turning from adequate to unfortunate.
Understatement 2: “I need to shoot something in the mid-60s tomorrow to get something going on the weekend,” Wood said unsolicited about making the cut.
While not an understatement, the question that comes with Woods' answer about making the cut is — how? What has Woods done this week or this season to make anyone think he can see the weekend at Royal Troon?
When you consider Colin Montgomerie’s comments about Woods, you wonder if he is more practical than Woods.
“At Pinehurst, he did not seem to enjoy a single shot, and you think, ‘What the hell is he doing?’” Monty told The Time of London this week, drawing a withering jab by Woods. “He’s coming to Troon, and he won’t enjoy it there either.”
It looks like Monty may been right; Woods clearly didn’t enjoy Troon on Thursday.
"Aren’t we there? I’d have thought we were past there,” Montgomerie continued with his comments. “There is a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye but it’s very difficult to tell Tiger it’s time to go. Obviously, he still feels he can win. We are more realistic.”
Realism is what may be missing from Tiger’s self-analysis.
Woods believes that if he feels better physically, that will translate to his game. At the beginning of the week, he talked about all the time he spent in the gym and how he is feeling much better physically.
“I think that, as the year has passed, I have gotten better,” Woods said. “I just wish I could have played a little more, but I’ve been saving it for the majors just in case I do something pretty major and then take myself out of it. Hopefully, next year will be slightly better than this year.”
If his major record this year of making one cut at finishing 60th of 60 at the Masters and missing the cut at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open is saving it up, then Woods has a lot further to go.
Woods has a scoring average of 75.44 through nine rounds in his four majors, with none of the rounds under par.
It’s clear Woods wants to continue playing in the majors, but let’s not pretend he will be competitive any longer.
Justin Thomas shaved 14 strokes off last year’s start (Stuart Franklin/R&A via Getty Images)
Justin Troon
A pair of major-champion Justins — Thomas and Rose — looked a lot like their old selves on Thursday morning at Royal Troon, where they’d love to join 1997 winner Justin Leonard on the roll of champions.
Justin Thomas — who has been more woe that whoa in majors since winning his second PGA Championship in 2022 — cleaved together a 3-under 68 with seven birdies more than offsetting a double and two bogeys to set the early clubhouse lead. It was a far cry better than the 82 he posted in the first round last year at Hoylake (or the 79 at Augusta, 77 at Pinehurst, 81 at LACC or another 78 at Augusta in the last two seasons).
“Well, I would guess about 15 strokes better, 13 strokes? What did I shoot?” Thomas said of the difference a year made on the links. “Yeah, I couldn’t even tell you what I was thinking or how it was then. I’m just worried about how I am now, and I’m very pleased with my game and know things are continuing to work in the right direction. I’ve just got to keep trying to play well.
“I don’t know. I’m just doing, I would say, everything better.”
Justin Rose, who at 43 had to go through final qualifying to get to Troon, joined leaders Daniel Brown and Shane Lowry with the only other bogey-free round, a 2-under 69.
“Definitely happy to keep it clean out there. Bogey-free is probably the thing I'm happiest about,” Rose said. “Walked off a touch … obviously we all walk off a golf course going, ‘oh, it could have been better.’ But I actually felt like there was three or four out there for me today had I been a little bit warmer with the putter.”
Rose made his first splash on the world stage as a 17-year-old amateur qualifier finishing T4 at the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale. Now nearly 44, he still believes he can win the claret jug as a qualifier all over again.
“I still believe that all right. I’ve been around long enough to know that I can … I know I’m capable of,” said the 2013 U.S. Open winner. “I know how I’m feeling in the moment, can kind of get inspired by the situation. Been pretty good in my career at sort of winning the special ones. Yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve been really working hard for the last two, three years is to have the opportunity late in my career to have a couple of special amazing opportunities. That’s what’s keeping me going.
“Will I compete week in and week out at the very, very, very highest level at 44? Who knows, but I still feel like I’m a good enough golfer to find my spots and find my angles and have my weeks where it all comes together.”