McDowell’s good day goes bad late
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The hair on the back of Graeme McDowell’s neck was raised from the first tee until four holes remained in Thursday’s British Open first round.
The native of Portrush, who received a thunderous ovation on the first tee and all the way around the course, got off to a marvelous start, making the turn in 2-under and walking to the 15th tee at 3-under for the day
McDowell then bogeyed Nos. 15 (with a three-putt) and 17 and took a triple bogey on 18, where he had to go back and hit a second tee shot after losing his first ball, and finished 2-over for the round. He was so furious on 18 that he kicked his golf bag after finding his ball some 12 seconds after the allowed three minutes to search for a lost ball.
“I played beautiful all day,’’ McDowell said. “I was frustrated walking to the 18th tee. It was an innocuous tee shot. I wasn’t expecting to lose the ball, put it that way. I’m walking down there expecting half a lie, maybe get up short of the green or back into play and try to make four, and can’t find it.
“It’s disappointing. But it was such a special day. Getting off that first tee, I literally had a tear in my eye. It was kind of cool stuff. Then to finish like that, it hurts … it hurts a lot. But it’s golf.
“Listen, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and that was rough. And hopefully some more smooth ahead.’’
Brandon Wu, the 22-year-old amateur from Scarsdale and a recent graduate of Stanford, shot a 2-over 73 after getting it to as low as 2-under on the front nine.
“I definitely felt pretty comfortable out there all day,’’ he said. “I don’t think I was too nervous other than maybe the first tee shot, just getting that one out of there.”
Sergio Garcia positioned himself well after one round with a 3-under 68 that had him one shot out of the lead when he finished.
The only players with more top 10s in the Open without a win than the 10 Garcia has are Andrew
Kirkaldy, who was born in 1860 and had 14 of them, and
Ben Sayers, who was born in 1856 and had 12.
“I’ve always loved this championship,’’ Garcia said. “I’m very satisfied with the way I played and the way that the day went. It was a solid day. It wasn’t easy out there. It was quite windy all day. There were some really tough holes, and obviously on the back nine. So I was very pleased with that.’’
Jordan Spieth, the 2017 British Open winner who’s been struggling of late, found some good form, shooting a 1-under 70.
“It was pretty solid today,’’ he said. “Four birdies is nice around this place.
All in all, the way I hit the ball reflects kind of how I feel about it. I’d like to certainly improve on this score to continue to stay in contention.
Emiliano Grillo had a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th.