Tom Watson leads British Open
Tom Watson tees off during the first round of the British Open at Turnberry Golf Club on Thursday. Watson shot a 65 to take the lead.
Watson, 59, a five-time British Open champion, shoots a 65 and leads the field by one shot after the first round. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, is wild off the tee and struggles to a 1-over-par 71.
Turnberry, Scotland -- Spending an inconvenient amount of time in the immediate company of weeds, Tiger Woods couldn't join the swell of British Open sentiment today that saw Tom Watson shoot 65 on the cusp of age 60.
Woods clambered to a 1-over-par 71 in tranquil conditions along the Firth of Clyde, reverting somewhat to the troubled off-the-tee form that marked the earlier parts of his season but seemed mostly scrubbed out through his last three events.
Turnberry, Scotland -- Spending an inconvenient amount of time in the immediate company of weeds, Tiger Woods couldn't join the swell of British Open sentiment today that saw Tom Watson shoot 65 on the cusp of age 60.
Woods clambered to a 1-over-par 71 in tranquil conditions along the Firth of Clyde, reverting somewhat to the troubled off-the-tee form that marked the earlier parts of his season but seemed mostly scrubbed out through his last three events.
"Hopefully tomorrow I can hit it a little better, clean it up," he said, just before bolting for the driving range.
In morning round in a threesome with a surprising relative quiet surrounding it, Woods reached the first two fairways pristinely, but his disobedient driver sent him into scruffy terrain near a TV stand off to the left on No. 3. That would be a harbinger but not in direction, as he repeatedly missed right from there in hitting eight of 14 fairways.
By the time he demonstrated his supple leg muscles and climbed a hill through the weeds to locate his ball after two shots on the par-5 No. 17 -- on the way to a par he found unsatisfactory -- he already had made repeated visits to scruff and to technological hardware. He had reached down to grab a wad of cables and move them on No. 7, and he had taken a drop after his approach shot on No. 16 strayed into a bundle of cables to make his ensuing bogey save rather impressive.
In morning round in a threesome with a surprising relative quiet surrounding it, Woods reached the first two fairways pristinely, but his disobedient driver sent him into scruffy terrain near a TV stand off to the left on No. 3. That would be a harbinger but not in direction, as he repeatedly missed right from there in hitting eight of 14 fairways.
By the time he demonstrated his supple leg muscles and climbed a hill through the weeds to locate his ball after two shots on the par-5 No. 17 -- on the way to a par he found unsatisfactory -- he already had made repeated visits to scruff and to technological hardware. He had reached down to grab a wad of cables and move them on No. 7, and he had taken a drop after his approach shot on No. 16 strayed into a bundle of cables to make his ensuing bogey save rather impressive.
"I hit a 5-iron, I was trying to play about 20 feet left of the hole and the ball landed about 15 feet right of the hole," he said. "Not a very good shot."
By then, the rightward misses had become an issue and then a pattern and then a trend, having started way back on the driving range before the round, Woods said. It also meant that playing partner Ryo Ishikawa, the 17-year-old sensation from Japan who said the other day, "I can't believe Tiger Woods is even talking about me," could overcome his awe and Woods to an excellent 68 in his third major round.
"Really very nervous to play with Tiger and Lee," Ishikawa said in reference to Woods and Lee Westwood, "but it is important to play my golf, my best golf. The course is different to what I am used to in Japan. Bunkers make me try different shots. I hope I can make the cut."
If he does, he probably will do so along with a player born in a September 42 years before the September in which Ishikawa joined the world, for the five-time champion Watson overtook the morning on the links just six weeks before his 60th birthday.
Inspired by a good-luck text message from Barbara Nicklaus, Watson lent a cagey old eye to Turnberry, where he famously won the 1977 Open. "She was defenseless today," he said. "Obviously the golf course played with no wind, and it was an easy test, if you have an easy test in an Open championship."
Playing in a group earlier than Woods-Ishikawa-Westwood, and playing alongside both Sergio Garcia and 16-year-old Italian amateur Matteo Manassero -- "That averaged the age out there," Watson said -- Watson birdied two of the first three holes and three more on the back nine to ensure that the British Open would have heavy geriatric influence for the second straight year.
Last year, 53-year-old Greg Norman led after three rounds, but this year he kicked off with a 77 that might have owed to excessive youth and said, "The way I drove the ball today was probably the worst I've drove it in my career, and if you're not hitting fairways here then you're going to struggle."
Even as Woods knew that too well, others stayed straight as the leaderboard grew extremely crowded just below Watson, with five players -- Steve Stricker, Camilo Villegas, Matthew Goggin, John Senden and Stewart Cink -- each shooting 66 in the early going.
None, though, could quite match Watson, which did lead Woods to an assessment. "Pretty impressive," said the world's No. 1 player. "Obviously he knows how to play the golf course."
By then, the rightward misses had become an issue and then a pattern and then a trend, having started way back on the driving range before the round, Woods said. It also meant that playing partner Ryo Ishikawa, the 17-year-old sensation from Japan who said the other day, "I can't believe Tiger Woods is even talking about me," could overcome his awe and Woods to an excellent 68 in his third major round.
"Really very nervous to play with Tiger and Lee," Ishikawa said in reference to Woods and Lee Westwood, "but it is important to play my golf, my best golf. The course is different to what I am used to in Japan. Bunkers make me try different shots. I hope I can make the cut."
If he does, he probably will do so along with a player born in a September 42 years before the September in which Ishikawa joined the world, for the five-time champion Watson overtook the morning on the links just six weeks before his 60th birthday.
Inspired by a good-luck text message from Barbara Nicklaus, Watson lent a cagey old eye to Turnberry, where he famously won the 1977 Open. "She was defenseless today," he said. "Obviously the golf course played with no wind, and it was an easy test, if you have an easy test in an Open championship."
Playing in a group earlier than Woods-Ishikawa-Westwood, and playing alongside both Sergio Garcia and 16-year-old Italian amateur Matteo Manassero -- "That averaged the age out there," Watson said -- Watson birdied two of the first three holes and three more on the back nine to ensure that the British Open would have heavy geriatric influence for the second straight year.
Last year, 53-year-old Greg Norman led after three rounds, but this year he kicked off with a 77 that might have owed to excessive youth and said, "The way I drove the ball today was probably the worst I've drove it in my career, and if you're not hitting fairways here then you're going to struggle."
Even as Woods knew that too well, others stayed straight as the leaderboard grew extremely crowded just below Watson, with five players -- Steve Stricker, Camilo Villegas, Matthew Goggin, John Senden and Stewart Cink -- each shooting 66 in the early going.
None, though, could quite match Watson, which did lead Woods to an assessment. "Pretty impressive," said the world's No. 1 player. "Obviously he knows how to play the golf course."
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