Calm and collected Gavin gets off to good start at Carnoustie

PETALING JAYA: National No. 1 golfer Gavin Kyle Green got off to a great start in the 147th British Open to keep alive a dream of making the cut for his first Major championship.

The 24-year-old hardly showed nerves as he carded a one-over 72 at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland on Thursday.

Gavin was calm and collected in dealing with the challenging course billed as “Carnasty” as he mixed five birdies and six bogeys to trail leader Kevin Kisner of the United States by six shots.

Sitting joint 50th, Gavin has a few big guns in his company including world No. 3 Justin Rose of England, former and reigning US Open champions Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka of the United States and last year's European Tour No. 1 Tommy Fleetwood of England.

Gavin however, was left to rue two closing bogeys at the 17th and 18th holes, which dragged him down from his joint 16th position at one point.

Still, Gavin was delighted with his opening day effort.

“I hit the ball into the bunkers a couple of times and had to chip it out but overall, a oneover to start my first Major is fine,” said the reigning Asian Tour Order of Merit winner.

“I wasn’t nervous out there. I was calm and cool so it’s fine.

“My ball striking was good. Three of my birdies were all tap-ins.”

Gavin wants to emulate Danny Chia's feat of completing all the four rounds at the world's oldest Major championship in 2010.

“I was just cruising out there. But towards the end, I just hit a couple of bad shots at the wrong time. The bogeys were just bad breaks," he explained.

“We’ll keep to the same game plan in the second round and be careful of the bunkers which cost me two shots.”