Cameron Young seized the lead within the first spherical of the a hundred and fiftieth British Open at St Andrews on Thursday after an excellent eight-under-par 64, whereas Rory McIlroy sits two strokes again but Tiger Woods endured a woeful afternoon on his return to the Old Course.
US golfer Cameron Young waits on the 18th inexperienced throughout his opening spherical 64 on the primary day of The a hundred and fiftieth British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on 14 July 2022. Picture: Glyn KIRK / AFP
ST ANDREWS – Cameron Young seized the lead within the first spherical of the a hundred and fiftieth British Open at St Andrews on Thursday after an excellent eight-under-par 64, whereas Rory McIlroy sits two strokes again but Tiger Woods endured a woeful afternoon on his return to the Old Course.
Woods was decided to characteristic this week as he continues his restoration from extreme leg accidents suffered in a automobile crash final 12 months, but he toiled for a six-over-par 78 in a grim spherical that dragged on over six hours.
In distinction Young, the 25-year-old American who first performed St Andrews along with his dad and mom aged 13, produced a flawless spherical that includes no bogeys and eight birdies after teeing off in one of many first teams at 8:25 am.
Young, ranked thirty second on the earth, completed tied third on this 12 months’s PGA Championship and has now put himself in a powerful place to be a contender into the weekend.
“I think any time you’re around the lead in a major championship or any PGA Tour event, frankly, you get more and more comfortable every time,” mentioned Young, who will tee off in his second spherical at lunchtime on Friday.
The strain might largely be on closest challenger McIlroy, whose six-under-par 66 included three straight birdies between the fifth and seventh holes.
McIlroy was the favorite for the Claret Jug coming into the week and the Northern Irishman, who received the Open in 2014, lived as much as his billing within the opening spherical.
His dropped only one shot at the par-four thirteenth and his rating matched that within the opening spherical on his option to victory at Hoylake eight years in the past.
“I need to go out tomorrow and back up what I just did today. I think that’s important to do,” mentioned the 33-year-old, who like Young won’t tee off till the afternoon on Friday when forecast morning showers are anticipated to have handed.
“This golf course isn’t going to change that much, I don’t think, between today and tomorrow in terms of conditions,” he added.
Australia’s Cameron Smith sat in third place after a gap 67 together with Scotland’s Robert Dinwiddie who completed his spherical in near-darkness.
A clutch of gamers had been at four-under together with world primary Scottie Scheffler of the United States.
SLOW PLAYS SCAR DAY
Woods, twice an Open champion at St Andrews, by no means correctly recovered from a disastrous begin as he despatched his strategy to the primary inexperienced into the Swilcan Burn and ended up with a double-bogey six.
In all he had two double-bogeys and 5 bogeys, with three birdies stopping a horrible spherical from being even worse.
He is now nearly sure to overlook the lower.
“Looks like I’m going to have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance” of creating the weekend,” Woods said.
Slow play scarred the day on a course whose tight, criss-crossing layout led to frequent hold-ups, and light was fading badly with the final groups still finishing their rounds.
“It’s only a joke, is not it? Like six hours 10, this simply should not be occurring ever in golf,” said US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who partnered Woods.
The landmark staging of the world’s oldest golf tournament has not been able to escape the controversy caused by the breakaway Saudi-backed LIV tour.
LIV and the rebels who joined the series were the target of stinging criticism in the build-up, most notably from Woods and Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of Open organisers the R&A.
POULTER BOOED
England’s Ian Poulter, one of 24 players in this week’s line-up who have joined the LIV series, was then booed on the first tee as he went out early on Thursday.
He went on to shoot a 69 and insisted he did not hear any jeers.
“I truly thought I had an amazing reception on the primary tee, to be sincere. All I heard was clapping,” mentioned Poulter.
Former Open champion Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood are additionally among the many LIV sequence members at St Andrews.
Westwood and Johnson each loved opening rounds of 68.
Players in St Andrews this week are competing to succeed Collin Morikawa, who received final 12 months at Royal St George’s and began with a level-par 72 on Thursday.
The course is internet hosting the championship for the thirtieth time, and the Open is anticipating document attendances for the week of 290,000.