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HOYLAKE, ENGLAND – Wake up people! There is golf on TV.
The 151st Open Championship takes place and takes place right here on the west coast of England. The first group has already finished their tour and had a lot of action along the way. Here are five things you missed from Thursday morning.
1. Scottie Scheffler WON’T STOP
Much has been accomplished (and may still not be enough!) Scotty Scheffler’s amazing season so far, with his Tiger Woods-esque stats and streak of 19 consecutive top 12 starts. But how do we think about this year if he can’t win a major championship? We’ll find out this week.
Scheffler got off to a strong start at Royal Liverpool after hitting two of his first four holes and bouncing in a one-under-one. If he wins this week, it will be his second major, his third win of the year, and the symbol he needs to make this campaign one of the best seasons in modern professional golf history.
2. Entertainment for amateurs is in the foreground
It’s been a good summer for Christo Lambrecht. The 22-year-old South African won the British Amateur Championships just a few weeks ago on the coast in Southport and Ainsdale, tying him up on the field this week. He wastes no time in exploiting this opportunity.
Another 6-foot-8 birdie who shot the 5-foot-under 66 sat alone atop the leaderboard when he finished at about 12:30pm local time. An amateur leads the World Open Championship? Can you continue? It doesn’t seem to last forever. Although we all remember Paul Dunn going 54 holes at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews.
If Lamprecht can hang out in Dunne-like fashion all weekend, there will be no shortage of comments on the athletic action of a hammock:
3. “Little Eye” claims its first victim
There’s a new gap at Royal Liverpool this week, haven’t you heard? It’s the cute par-3 17, nicknamed the “little eye” of the little island far away. The piercing itself is a bit controversial, in part because people tend to dislike change, and also because the refueling around it can make life hell on members. But apparently, it can be hell for professionals, too.
Lucas Herbert was leading the tournament at three-under 16 holes on Thursday when he pulled his tee shot left from the 17th green. It’s unclear how hard he bogeyed from there, but Herbert played his second putt a bit too steady, rolling it across the hole into a hollowed-out green bunker. From there he was short sided and pleading for a double bogey. He won’t get it.
Herbert’s third shot wasn’t good enough to escape the perimeter of the trap and he found himself back in the sand, darting off it onto the green and carrying two putts for three bogeys of the 6. The lead disappeared.
4. Raising local favorites
There may be a lot of support for Rory McIlroy at the start of this tournament, but don’t confuse it. No player on the field has more support than Matthew Jordan.
Jordan plays the majority of his golf on the DP World Tour, but when not out on the professional traveling circuit he often plays golf at Royal Liverpool, where he is a member. (When I flew in from America in mid-June and got to the RLGC, he was one of the first people I saw.) Just a few weeks ago, he had picked up 62 cards from the Membership Tournament Finals.
Jordan had the honor of playing the first shot of this tournament at 6:45 a.m. Thursday, in front of an enthusiastic crowd. He pulled his tee ball into the rough, then pulled his approach to the green dugout. But then he gave the audience something to cheer about, swinging 14 feet for an opening bonus. Jordan made four birdies to finish a two-under 69 to sit near the top of the leaderboard.
5. The good life
This is probably the last major event in the era that separated LIV Golf from the PGA Tour. Who do you know! What we do know is that several LIV-ers started out strong at Hoylake. Thomas Peters led the field only for a moment at minus four, having made an eagle on the fifteenth of fifteen. He promptly made a double bogey the next hole, but sits solid here after a one-under 70. Patrick Reid also shot a 70. A low start will be exactly what everyone in the field is looking for in breezy Thursday conditions.