The Open day one: Plenty to look forward to as the action starts at St Andrews
3 min read
Former winner Paul Lawrie obtained the 150th Open up Championship beneath way in awesome conditions at St Andrews.
The 53-year-aged Scot, victor in 1999 at Carnoustie and initially presented the honour of teeing off initially on the Previous Study course 12 years back, was first off at 6.35am.
A prevailing wind from the west meant most of the outward 9 was into the breeze but it was not solid plenty of to cause any problems for the early starters, while it was forecast to decide on up later on in the working day.
Lawrie and his actively playing companions Webb Simpson, the 2012 US Open up winner, and Min-Woo Lee all built par at the 355-lawn initial.
Here, the PA information agency appears forward to the action in the remaining important of the calendar year.
McIlroy braced for hard challenge
Rory McIlroy was anticipating St Andrews to perform challenging and get more durable as he started his latest Open up obstacle.
The 2014 winner was due to tee off at 9.58am at the Outdated System alongside defending winner Collin Morikawa and last week’s Scottish Open winner Xander Schauffele.
There have been recommendations the game’s modern big-hitters could make the study course glance straightforward but, with speedy and agency ground and probable wind, McIlroy is not certain.
He explained: “I think with the problem of the golf training course, with a minimal bit of breeze, you can bomb it all over in this article and hit driver and get it close to the greens, but that does not necessarily signify you are heading to make birdies from people positions.
“I just consider with the way the golfing training course is participating in and how company and rapid it is, it’s just likely to get super challenging by the conclusion of the week.”
McIlroy thinks the problems could even engage in into the fingers of none other than Tiger Woods.
“It’s heading to be a sport of chess this 7 days, and no one’s been greater at taking part in that kind of chess activity on a golf system than Tiger over the previous 20 years,” he explained.
Course specialists?
As a two-time Open up winner over the Outdated Course, Woods inevitably heads the area when it will come to expert awareness of the renowned Fife inbound links. Other previous St Andrews victors who could once more obstacle include Zach Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen. Tyrrell Hatton might also fancy his odds, possessing excelled in the Dunhill Inbound links Championship. Though that function only options two rounds at the Previous Course, Hatton gained in 2016 and 2017 and came runner-up in 2018.
Tweet of the day
Key tee instances
0635: Paul Lawrie, Webb Simpson, Min Woo Lee
0814: Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose
0958: Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
1009: Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland
1326: Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton
1459: Tiger Woods, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa
1510: Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Harold Varner
Temperature forecast
A dry and vivid get started was predicted on Thursday but with cloud building up throughout the working day. Sunny spells are envisioned to continue but showers are attainable in the afternoon. Light-weight winds in the morning, with gusts of 15-20mph later on.
