Jordan Spieth reflected on his assured start to the Open at Royal Birkdale and promptly hailed one of his top five rounds at the majors. Rory McIlroy just looked like a man who had gone five rounds with Muhammad Ali after he made a disastrous start, but he rallied in the back nine to finish one over par.
The Texan defied the testing wind to set the pace with a five-under round of 65. He was matched by Brooks Koepka, the US Open champion, who ended the day 11 shots ahead of playing partner Tommy Fleetwood. The home-town hero tried to put an optimistic spin on his round by saying he “didn’t play that badly”, but his 76 was the stuff of nightmares. His gloom was matched by McIlroy who suffered five bogeys in his first six holes to put his place in the field for the weekend in premature peril before four birdies in the final seven holes ensured a round of 71.
As McIlroy and Fleetwood toiled away, it was Ian Poulter, back from the brink of losing his PGA Tour card and playing his first major since last year’s Masters, who gave the vast crowds something to cling onto as he went round in 67.
Spieth, though, was the star turn of the big guns. “I’d call it a top-five major round that I’ve played,” he said. “I couldn’t have done much better today.”
It was an eventful round too. He went way left on the 10th and a child picked up his ball before dropping it. He then went right on the 13th and across a path before watching as someone trod on his ball. “I’m not sure who it was that walked over there, but he was walking right towards it and I saw him not noticing the ball. He accidentally stepped on it. It’s happened a few times to me.” A free drop ensued and he then produced a great chip to save par on the 16th.
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Justin Thomas, playing in a badly-knotted tie, produced one of the shots of the day for an eagle at the 17th to help him to another round of 67. With Kuchar reaching the turn in just 29 strokes, the top of the leaderboard bucked the theory held by some that links golf favours British and Irish players. McIlroy, who was five over par after nine holes, was hardly supporting that notion, either.
