– It is very difficult to win an Open Championship hitting only two fairways in a round. It would be, even if such a mishap occurred in just one of the four rounds. That’s not how you win an Open Championship or almost any other tournament, surely. However, it is still possible (and even likely) that Rory McIlroy (-1) could win next Sunday at Royal Portrush, despite having hit only two fairways on the first day.
– At least two interpretations can be made of his round of 70 strokes, one under par for the day, and everyone (including Rory) can choose the one they like best. The first: the Northern Irishman will have to improve significantly from the tee to even make an appearance for the rest of the tournament. And the second: Rory, in reality, has already gotten through the tough day and yet there he is, under par and three strokes behind the five leaders (the Chinese Haotong Li, the Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, the Dane Jacob Skov Olesen, the South African Bezuidenhout, and the American Harris English), mainly because his attitude on the course has been outstanding. From this point on, he can only improve, and he has been very composed on the greens. The others better start trembling.
– If McIlroy had signed for a 75 today, no one would have been surprised. What a way to miss shots from the tee to the left, almost one after another, also putting the ball in at least delicate positions. And the fact is he managed to be three under after ten holes, and you had to do the math to believe it. Good third shots on the par 5s, a few short putts, the short par 4 of the 5th hole well taken advantage of… And there he was. Then, the reality of his precarious golf took over, and he began to suffer, but he finished with a somewhat lucky birdie on the 17th and was about to sink a long birdie putt on the 18th to end this strange day. He has done much more than just fight back to save a bad day. And we’ll see if he hasn’t won half an Open…
– There have only been two bogey-free scorecards. Those of Haotong Li (-4), one of the leaders, and Justin Rose (-2). The presence of the Chinese at the top is not too surprising: he has always been a player expected to make a mark, in the best sense, and now he has also found a much more consistent version of his game: last week he missed his first cut of the year, an absolutely unusual event for this player at this stage of the season. As for Rose… If it were for desire and intensity, they would already be giving him the Claret Jug tomorrow.
Let’s see if it will happen that this Open is the one for the English. It has been 33 years since the last victory of an Englishman in this tournament, which was that third one by Nick Faldo in 1992. A gigantic, excessive gap, happening for the first time in history since the amateur John Ball claimed victory for England in the Open of 1890. But this week, at the start, besides the aforementioned Rose and co-leader Fitzpatrick, we have Tyrrell Hatton (-3), who has been doing very well in the US Open and seems to have gotten the hang of the Majors, his pending subject until now. Even Lee Westwood (-2) is in good form and ready to make noise. And Matthew Jordan (-2). And Aaron Rai (-2). England demands revenge
– There have also been up to five scorecards without a single birdie. And it is noteworthy that two of them belong to Wyndham Clark (+5) and Bryson DeChambeau (+7). DeChambeau, in particular, has looked too disoriented from early on. Very uncomfortable. And even resigned. Beyond the pure objective of the cut, which in itself seems complicated, these two players need to give themselves a boost of self-esteem tomorrow on the Dunluce course at Royal Portrush, to close the Major season differently.
– Long live equality and tight tournaments! We don’t say it, Royal Portrush said it today. After the first 18 holes, we have seventy players within a margin of five strokes from the lead. Let’s make some comparisons. In the past Masters, we had only ten players within this same five-stroke margin after the first round; in the PGA, the number went to 28 players; and in the US Open, it reached 32. The difference is noticeable, as you can see. Within a margin of six strokes from the lead, a difference that still seems surmountable in 54 holes, we find almost a hundred. Surely, the fact that, at the end of the day, the changing playing conditions have distributed luck with some fairness has had something to do with it. It seemed, it’s true, that the early groups were getting the worst of the wind and rain, but the last ones also had their share, with intense gusts.
