Kisner hangs out at front of elite pack
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND – Clearly, Kevin Kisner is hanging out with the right crowd.
The 34-year-old American with a relatively modest resume – two wins on the PGA Tour – is sharing a house in Carnoustie with some of the best players in the game, among them Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker, and Rickie Fowler.
That means the housemates have won a combined eight major championships, with Fowler and Kisner being the only ones who haven’t contributed to that count.
But Kisner took an impressive step in that direction Thursday, shooting a 5-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead in the first round of the British Open.
Now, the Claret Jug isn’t awarded after 18 holes, and having the lead after one round is meaningless if you can’t sustain that momentum. But Kisner had reason to feel good as he headed back to the house, where, word is, the buddies have a private chef, a beautiful new grill, and a truckload of Tomahawk steaks.
Asked about his reward for a solid day of work, Kisner said, “I probably get to eat first.”
He unquestionably brought home the bacon in the opening round, with four birdies and an eagle offsetting his lone bogey. On a glorious day, he had game to match, working his way around the course with a mere 22 puts, three fewer than anyone else.
“I felt like my ball position got too far back at the Greenbrier,” he said of the tournament earlier this month in which he finished 55th. “I was missing every putt to the right. So I came here Monday and worked really hard on my speed, which is always the hardest thing for us to get accustomed to here… The ball started coming off on the line, and when I’m doing that, I feel like I can hole them all.”
As usual, putting was key. No one was a better illustration of that than Oliver Wilson, who was tied for first with15 greens in regulation, but had the most putts of the day with 37. He’s at four over and has some heavy lifting to make the cut.
Roughly half the field hit fewer than half the fairways, and Kisner was in that group. Kevin Kisner of the United States plays out of a green-side bunker on the 18th hole on his way to a shooting a first-round 66 on the first day of the British Open in Scotland. But the bone-dry conditions made for thinner and therefore less-punitive tall grass. If that rough were more robust, it would grab the clubs more effectively.
“There's definitely spots out there that are bad,” Kevin Na said, “But, obviously, if you just stay out of the fairway bunkers, then you're doing just fine.”
Unlike last month’s U.S. Open, when gusting winds coupled with baked greens turned Shinnecock Hills into Bogeyland U.S.A., the greens at Carnoustie are actually green, and the trickiest part of the course was fairways as brown as birch and just about as hard. The balls rolled and rolled.
“That’s the beauty this golf course is right now,” said Johnson, Kisner’s housemate, in a mosh pit of players tied at two under. “You can hit 7 irons and 6 irons off the tee box. You can hit drivers. But you’d better hit both of them straight. I’m not embellishing it one bit. I’ve never hit an 8 iron off a par-4, and I Carnoustie, Scotland Through Sunday TV today: 1:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Golf Channel hit an 8 iron off a par-4 today.”
Five players recorded drives longer than 400 yards. But the huge hitters didn’t necessarily reap the benefits. For instance, Kisner was 100th in average drive at 313.5 yards, and had a much better day than Bryson DeChambeau, who led in that category (379.0) yet is tied for 111th at 4-over.
Just behind Kisner is a trio of players at minus-4 – South Africans Erik van Rooyen and Zander Lombard, and American Tony Finau – and there are four more at minus-3. So the leader board is filled with red numbers. That could change if the winds pick up, or with rain, as is forecast for today.
Spieth, who won this tournament at Royal Birkdale last year, got off to a good start Thursday with three birdies in the first 11 holes. But he cooled down the stretch, with two bogeys and a double in the final four holes.
“It felt like I missed an opportunity,” he said.
Because of the unusual conditions, namely balls that roll forever, players have a wide range of options on every hole. Asked if that makes it easier or harder, Spieth didn’t hesitate. “Definitely harder,” he said.