McDowell leads jam packed leaderboard
IN: News | European PGA | British Open (2006) | Round One | by Bruce Young | 21 Jul 2006
Conditions on day one of the Open Championship could not have been better. An overnight storm had taken some of the sting out of the golf course and despite a delay of half an hour while the remnants of the storm were cleared, the early conditions set the scene for an avalanche of under par scoring in round one.
While many were waiting for a breakaway leader from the morning players, who understandably had the slightly better of the conditions, it would not be until later in the day when the round one leader would be determined.
Graeme McDowell teed off just before 1.30pm with Peter Lonard and Lucas Glover and five hours later, after a six birdie and no bogey round, he led a very congested leaderboard which eventually saw just four shots between the top 49 players.
The man from Northern Ireland has come off two missed cuts in his last three starts including at that at the Scottish Open last week but today he was rock solid making his first birdie at the par five fifth and followed that up with four birdies in the next six holes ands finished things off with a birdie at the 16th. He was unable to secure a birdie at the last, the reachable par five, but he has his nose in front of a group of five which includes the fast finishing Tiger Woods.
Woods was slow to start, and it took him until the par five fifth before he was able to reverse a three putt bogey at the first. A birdie at the par three 9th had Woods heading for home at one under and after a missed fairway at the 11th he holed a putt from ten feet to move to two under. The almost obligatory birdie at the 16th saw him move to three under and then at the last, after a fine second to 25 feet, he holed that to move within one of McDowell. Woods had benefited from watching a player earlier in the day on television. "I had seen that the putt at the last did not break as much as it appeared and as it was running towards the hole I was hoping that it would still be the case and it was," he said.
Also at five under, are the PGA Tour playing Englishman Greg Owen, the in form Anthony Wall, Miguel Angel Jimenez, and the eight time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, Keiichiro Fukabori.
At four under and amongst a group of players who had the lead for much of the day until the emergence of McDowell were thirteen players, the most intriguing story perhaps that of Mark Hensby. Hensby has struggled with his game in recent months in fact for most of 2006. As he had done at Augusta, Hensby made a horror start but this time he wouldn't wait until day two to bounce back. After a triple bogey at the third today, he bounced back with six birdies in the next eight holes and then, despite a couple of bogeys late, he added three more birdies and had joined those in the lead at four under. It was an impressive start.
There were plenty of others at four under and two behind the leader who may yet become a story themselves over the next few days. Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott and Mike Weir are all good enough players to take advantage of their great starts but many of them will play late on day two and that might yet be a factor for them.
With so many in such close proximity to the lead, there are many others just off the pace who could yet figure by this time tomorrow. Phil Mickelson is at three under and perhaps surprisingly seemed at home on the golf course.
Many Australians are in that category also. Brett Rumford and Marcus Fraser are at four under, and Rod Pampling and Robert Allenby are within three. In fact nine Australians and one New Zealander are within four of the lead.
Peter Lonard was another who made a great comeback after a horror start, After a double bogey at the dangerous third, Lonard was at three over but he worked his way back into the tournament with six birdies between then and the clubhouse and at one over he is not out of it, especially with an early tee time tomorrow.
Stuart Appleby was perhaps the big disappointment of the day from an Australian perspective. Appleby played with Montgomerie and Daly today and started and finished his round poorly. A 74 has him at two over and with the cut already appearing as if it will be around even par, he has some work to do tomorrow.
The tournament is wide open but the par which Tiger Woods made at the par five, 10th, after taking two in the bunker, and the putt he holed at the last for eagle might just be significant when the whips are cracking on Sunday.
