Casey refuses to let bogey blues spoil birthday party

Paul Casey cursed the weather on his 40th birthday as a 77 left him three over, having started the day one off the lead. By the time he reached the 14th, six bogeys had been recorded and, when his tee shot was knocked off course by the wind, Casey said to his caddie: “I am starting to get really f----- off with this.” But Casey, whose shoes sported his birthday number, was eager not to let this dampen his 40th celebrations. “Today was work on the golf course, but the party is a totally separate thing. Hopefully I don’t shoot 77 at my party.” Daniel Schofield rough on his third shot, Thomas’ first attempt at a swing ended in his iron getting lodged in the gorse, his second moved the ball a few centimetres before he lost his ball entirely on the third resulting in a dropped shot. A hack and a double putt later resulted in the first quintuple bogey of the Championship.

Thomas would eventually finish with a round of 80 to miss the cut by two shots; any sympathy for the American has to be tempered by a degree of schadenfreude for that tie and cardigan combination.

One of the players to defy the elements was local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who improved on his first round of 76 to shoot a 69 and make the final two days. prompted a flash of anger. Attempting to whack the offending bush with his club, the 37-year-old succeeded only in injuring his right shoulder. A bogey duly followed as the physio was called and administered a phalanx of painkillers.

“It didn’t feel good,” Garcia said. “When I hit it, it felt like … it’s funny, I hit it backwards, it was a very weak position, and it felt like the muscles went on top of each other. So, it didn’t feel good at all.

“I’m not happy about it because I almost screwed up my Open, fortunately for me I didn’t. It’s not what you want to do. Sometimes you are out there and you are trying your hardest. When you can’t do it, you get frustrated.”

Garcia responded by scoring an eagle at the fifth and would go on to finish with a 69, one of just a handful of rounds that were under par.