The British Open is in full swing in St Andrews and after a grueling first round, there’s no better time to hit back at the 18 holes of the Open Championship.
Getting up to play golf at the British Open seemed like a good idea in theory, but after 15 hours of golf coverage due to the grueling slow runs from start to finish on Thursday, it doesn’t look like that. But the Open Championship is now 18 holes and we have an interesting tournament taking shape.
Wind wasn’t a huge factor on Thursday for the first round, but we can see that pick up a bit as the week goes on. Most importantly, we saw exceptionally baked fairways and greens that required players for every shot they hit, which made for a thoroughly enjoyable quiz. There is some light rain in the forecast that could reduce that, but again, light rain can only do much given the track conditions.
But the real story is that we only have 18 holes, which means there are still 54 holes of major championship golf left to play. There are a lot of shots we still have to get in the air, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get off the handle and overreact to the first round of the Open Championship.
British Open: 5 exaggerated reactions to the first round of the Open Championship
5. Cameron Young Will Definitely Fade (Maybe Immediately)
Today’s round in the Old Court went to Cameron Young, who fired 64, the lowest round by a player making his debut in the Open Championship since the tournament expanded to 18 holes in the 19th century.
He now enters Friday by two strokes over someone named Rory McIlroy and only three players within three strokes of him. The guy who flirts with the lead all year long seems to be in a great place, right?
In the spirit of overreacting, I’d go with Young’s reverse path and say his progress would evaporate and do so quickly. Not only could conditions in terms of wind be more challenging for him tomorrow, but hitting all 18 greens and gaining the approach as he did is unsustainable, especially for a player with so much green in terms of major tournament experience. I don’t think Young is falling off the face of the earth in this tournament, but I do think 18 holes is how long he’s really going to go.
4. Victor Hovland is the dark horse nobody expected at the British Open
Entering this tournament, there was apparently talk and discussion about each of the top 10 players in the world and how they would perform at St Andrews except for Victor Hovland. Now after 18 holes, the young Norwegian is tied for fifth and looks hard in the mix to make some noise this week.
Now, it’s worth noting that Hovland actually got the early wave, which played two strokes easier than the last. With that said, the main reasons many people overlook are its latter form (not up to its standards) and its stage around the green. Well, he got 0.84 hits around the green and about 3.0 hits from the tee into the green overall with good placement as well.
Hovland has been so talented throughout his career that he hasn’t really stood out in a major yet. Now back on European soil, it looks like he’s got his game back in the right place and is ready to make some noise this week.
3. Tiger Woods plays bad golf, not showing his bad health
After firing a 6-over round that started with a double bogey as a result of a point-to-drink approach shot on the first hole, Tiger Woods is almost certain to miss the cut. You can already hear voices saying he’ll never be the same again because of his health.
There is some truth in that; However, anyone who saw him on Thursday knows that his leg wasn’t the problem. This was a guy who played bad golf for the majority of the day. His situation, especially from a short distance, was poor and the rest of his game remained of sorts. He rarely had signs on his leg that bothered him (if any) and didn’t look very tired – the tiger looked like a bad golfer.
This shouldn’t be a rush to judge Woods and his future as we’ve seen him play remarkably well given the difficulties he’s had to overcome in the few rounds he’s played this year. With that, it was very disappointing to see what his last trip to the ancient path looked like like this.
2. Brooks Koepka will never compete in a major (or maybe LIV either) again
For years, the narrative has been promoted that Brooks Koepka is a big game hunter with a switch that he can turn whenever a major tournament is going on. But now that the first round of the British Open is over, he’s played in the easy wave and still only shoots once for the day and could be in danger of losing the pieces on Friday afternoon.
With the LIV Golf movement, I think we saw the end of the related Koepka. Playing in these 54-hole cash-only tournaments will not prepare players for the major tournaments, but in the case of Koepka in particular, it will also take away that competitive advantage. That switch that we expected him to flip on isn’t going to work and I think we’re seeing that coming true in St Andrews.
1. The Open Championship is losing Rory McIlroy
Back in 2010, the younger Rory McIlroy launched the first round 63 to take the lead in the old court of the British Open. Unfortunately, this was followed by an 80 shooting on Friday. Despite this, he ended up in a draw for third place.
Now after his inaugural Tour 66 this year, I don’t think we’re seeing him fade away. This course will be demanding but McIlroy showcases every bit of his game he needs to play well. He’s got hits across the board and put in very well, which is a trend that’s too consistent over his past few tournaments to be ignored at this point. On top of that, he keeps himself as someone who won’t face the “disaster tour” that we’ve seen from him so many times.
It’s been eight years since Rory McIlroy won a major championship. And I’ve already called it all week as my pick to win. So maybe I’m biased, but that’s where the historic, 150th Open Championships in St Andrews gets this monkey off his back. He’s positioned himself, he’s the biggest dog in the fight, and now he just has to show his teeth for another 54 holes. If he did, it would be his claret flask again.
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