Fitzpatrick’s early save pivotal as he finishes in red figures
SHEFFIELD’S Matt Fitzpatrick overcame a stumbling start to dip just below par on day one of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
He was two over after six holes and would have been three down against the card but for holing a lengthy par putt at the first.
The Ryder Cup player agreed that had been a pivotal moment, even though it came at the opening hole.
“I didn’t feel like I hit two bad shots. There was a sigh after the putt went in,” said the 22-yearold. “I didn’t hit the first putt hard enough. It just needed three or four more feet and it goes more down the hill and you’re not looking too bad. But you need that (a par) to get your round off to a good start.”
He birdied holes eight, 10 and 14 to move one under par and although a bogey at 16 dropped him back level, Fitzpatrick birdied the par-5 17th after an excellent bunker shot.
Asked if Royal Birkdale’s bunkers are daunting, he replied: “Yeah, absolutely. I’ve never been the greatest fan of links sand. I find it heavy and find it difficult to really get the club under the ball and get the ball up.
“But for that one in particular I was quite lucky. There wasn’t too much sand underneath so I could do exactly that and it popped up nicely.
“Some of them are incredibly deep and if you get in one on the fairway you just take your medicine and wedge out.”
He added: ““It’s always nice to finish in red numbers, especially on days like this. The wind strength on some holes was making you change two or three clubs in your selection.”
Fellow Sheffielder Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, had an encouraging start with a birdie at the second. However, he had three consecutive bogeys from the seventh before righting the ship on the back nine, a birdie at 17 giving him a one-over-par 71. HILLSBOROUGH’S Joe Dean was last night trying to draw on the positives of his opening 72 at Royal Birkdale on his Open debut to help assuage the disappointment of carding two double bogeys in his final three holes.
The former English men’s amateur champion had five birdies in his two-over-par round and was one under after 15.
But his second shot to the 16th left him with a hanging lie in a bunker that left him no option but to play into the middle of the hazard.
He failed to get up and down in two and, after responding with a birdie at 17, also double bogeyed 18 after tangling with both fairway and greenside sand.
“Overall there were a lot of positives, but sadly they are overshadowed at the moment by the poor finish,” he said. “There’s so much sand in the bunkers, and it’s so sticky, unless the ball’s entering from the top edge anything from the side just sticks on the side.
“On the 16th I had to hit it into the middle of the bunker – I couldn’t go sideways or backwards – for my third shot. But five birdies out there was pretty good.
“Those who went out two to four o’clock had it as good as it got. When we went out it was still a bit blustery and a bit cold for the first five or six holes then we started warming up.
“It would be nice to have a few more shots to play with.”
By the time he tees off in the second round in the penultimate group at 4.05pm, the EuroPro Tour player may find that his position has improved without striking a shot.
Moortown’s Nick McCarthy has two fewer shots with which to manoeuvre after a four-over par 74.
After birdieing the third to compensate for a bogey at two, he shed four further shots without making any gains.