Mike Report Day One at the British Open

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:01:11

"TROON, Scotland - I got my Open off to a good start this afternoon with a 71, level par, and it's a little better than the way I've started in years past. I think 73 at Muirfield was my previous best first day. I felt really good about my game today and if I can get a few more putts to go in, it'll get something going. I had a bunch of putts stay on the lip or just off it today, maybe five or six of them. Hopefully I'll get a couple to go in tomorrow morning. Really, the only putt I can think of that went in today was that birdie putt on the 10th, maybe 25 feet from the back of the green. My only other birdie was the two-putt from just off the green at the fourth.

I think 71 is about as high as I could have been. I didn't scare any bogies except for the two putts I had for pars on the ninth and 17th. I just tried to stay patient. It's four days and even if someone gets out in front, it's a long week and I've played in enough majors now and been in contention enough to know that it's a grind through four days and the course keeps getting tougher as the week goes on so you've just got to hang around and you'll stay in it.

There weren't too many surprises from the course today. It was just a little bit different wind, coming straight off the water and so far this week it's been more down wind going out. So that gave us a few different looks out there and maybe a few different clubs off the tee. I think we're expecting this wind for the next couple of days, too.

Off the tee, I missed some fairways but my driving was fine. I maybe took some aggressive lines and maybe I missed one or two tee shots but for the most part I felt like I was driving it OK and it just seemed like I'd get a little hop or two to the right or left, just two or three yards off and into the rough. I think you just have to play the course a little more to know lines, plus, as I mentioned, the wind was just a little bit different today. I never felt like I was in any real trouble and that's a good sign.

There was a time today in the middle of our round that we were told that the group in front of us was on the clock so David (Howell) and Aaron (Baddeley) and I had to hustle to keep up to them a couple of times. The pace didn't feel that bad but when you're playing a major in the wind and in threesomes, that's what they should expect. It did seem to me like were rushing a couple of times, maybe four or five holes, because those guys ahead of us were trying to catch up and we were trying to stay up close to them.

Early in the day, I had a very important shot to get me comfortable today. I hit my tee shot on the second into a fairway bunker on the left and the ball just dropped into the front of the bunker and I didn't have much room behind my ball to the lip. I took an eight iron, choked it down a bit so I didn't catch the lip on my backswing and hit the ball from a bit of a downslope and got it up over the front lip, right on the green. It was 135 yards and I released a little bit, otherwise it would have been stone dead in there. It was 10 feet and just missed the putt, but still it was my best shot by far today. That one really helped.

The greens were definitely a bit faster today than they were in the practice rounds and I just didn't get completely comfortable on them. I had Brennan helping me with quite a few reads today, just to be sure. I think I'll spend some time on the putting green this afternoon trying to get a better feel, but I'm looking forward to getting out again early in the morning.

Thanks for all your support,
Mike
"