USA’s Triplett has lead
Shares it with Thai Wiratchant at Senior British
American Kirk Triplett and Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand shot 7-under 65s Thursday to lead the Senior British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland, by one stroke after the opening round but both will be keeping a close eye on defending champion Bernhard Langer.
Long the dominant figure in over-50s golf, Langer arrived at St. Andrews as the man to beat. And not much has changed. While Langer’s 5-under 67 wasn’t the best score over the Old Course, the German’s lofty presence on the leader board will have the attention of every other contender.
Langer is tied for fifth alongside former PGA champion David Toms and another American, Scott McCarron, with the trio one shot behind former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and Canadian Stephen Ames.
As many as 16 players shot 68 or less, a figure that almost included Tom Watson, 68, on abright and breezy day.
The seven men atop the leader board were each at least 3-under par by the turn. But it was a different matter coming home. No one in the 144-strong field was better than 3 under for their final nine holes.
Wiratchant’s round was highlighted by a run of five consecutive birdies from the third hole. Four more followed, with dropped shots at Nos. 13 and 17.
Triplett put his bogey-free score down to following instructions from his caddie, a local man well acquainted with golf’s most famous venue.
“He was very descriptive,” said Triplett with a smile. “It was, ‘Hit it right at that tower’ or ‘Right at that clump of bushes.’ I did that a number of times and had a lot of good looks [at the pins] from the fairways. Then I putted well from 10-to-20 feet. That’s what you have to do around here.”
Good putting from long distance was the dominant theme of a sunny day. Langer, Watson and Ames each emphasized its importance on the huge doublegreens that are, at the end of the massively wide fairways, perhaps the most noticeable characteristic of the Old Course.
Rocky save
Robert Garrigus made a birdie after a rock saved his ball from water and had a one-stroke lead at 9-under 63 when first-round play in the RBC Canadian Open in Oakville, Ontario, was suspended because of high wind and potential lightning strikes. “Hit it right in the middle of the water, and it hit a rock and bounced over the thing,” Garrigus said about the break on the par-5 13th. Garrigus, 40, won his lone PGA Tour title in 2010. He made five consecutive birdies on Nos. 2-6, then birdied four of the final six holes — three of them par 5s.
DeChambeau shines
AmericanBrysonDeChambeau shot a 6-under 66 to take thefirst-roundleadattheEuropean Open in Hamburg, Germany. DeChambeau, 25, cardedhis best European Tour round in more than two years for a one-shot lead. DeChambeau, who plays with a set of irons all of the same length, had seven birdies in all. He birdied all but one of the five par5s,includingattheninth— hisfinal hole.
Hot putter
American Tiffany Joh credited her “hot putter” as she shot a career-best 9-under 62at the Ladies Scottish Open in Gullane to take a four-shot lead after the first round.