In between sips of a fine scotch Wednesday night in the warm comfort of the St. Andrews bar, Sam Torrance pondered the pouring rain and predicted an onslaught in the first round of the British Open.
“The rain will soften the course up,” he said, “There’s going to be a 2-mph wind. They’ll eat this place alive.”
I looked at the tempestuous storm outside that caused the cancellation of the champions challenge a few hours before and, knowing the forecast called for more foul weather, thought the Scotsman was just being a contrarian.
Not a rare disposition in this part of the world, especially after a wee drop of whiskey.
But Torrance was right.
The 150th British Open began in a light drizzle Thursday morning but without a breath of wind to defend the Old Course, the year’s third major quickly was transformed into the Bob Hope.
“To be in the top 10 you had to be 5-under,” said Tiger Woods. “You don’t see that at too many majors.”
The conditions were so benign that John Daly, with his stapled stomach, loud pants and world ranking of 455 went out in 6-under par 66 and yet was left lamenting missed opportunities.
The 44-year-old reclamation project, who won his claret jug at St. Andrews in 1995 and joked that Thursday was the first time he’d seen the inside of a media center after a round at the British Open since, predicted that a better putter than he would probably card a lower score.
He had barely finished uttering the words when the Northern Irish tyro Rory McIlroy birdied the 14th to get to 7-under par, then added two more birdies to shoot 63 and take the lead.
With his competitors feasting on birdies, Woods began slowly, thrown off, he said later, by the lack of wind.
But the world No. 1 rallied to shoot a 5-under par 67 which, in truth, should’ve been better.
Woods missed a short par putt of about four feet on the perilous road hole, the 17th, then failed to get up-and-down for birdie after almost driving the final green.
“Today felt awkward because there was absolutely no wind whatsoever, and you never play a links golf course with no wind,” he said. “With the conditions we had, you had to go get it. You had to take advantage of it. I felt like I did a pretty good job of that today.”
It was the sort of boost to his confidence Woods needed.
Last year at Turnberry, much was made of his second-round capitulation in brutal conditions, but the truth is he left himself no wiggle room by only shooting 71 in benign conditions on the first day, during which Tom Watson beat him by six shots.
Woods hit a mediocre iron into the first, wasting a good tee shot, but two precise irons on the second left him with a 15 footer, which he made.
But it seemed the day wouldn’t be fruitful after he spurned birdie chances on the next two holes, then inexplicably failed to get up-and-down from the fringe of the par-5 fifth after reaching in two shots.
Woods, though, didn’t panic and didn’t press. He let the round come to him, a sign that he’s regaining faith in his game.
“I just let the round mature,” he said, “There’s no need to force it. Just go ahead and capitalize on certain holes, and just because I’m at 1-under par doesn’t mean I need to go force things. I had plenty of holes left. The conditions were benign and just go ahead and get it done, and it happened.”
I asked Woods whether he was searching less now than he’d been, certainly at Augusta, but also at Pebble Beach.
“It’s getting better every week,” he said. “Every week I’m playing, the things I’ve been working on have been starting to come together. I’m hitting shots that I haven’t hit in a long time.”
And his confidence?
“It’s building,” he said.
It didn’t hurt that he seems to have won back the crowds.
When he was introduced on the first tee in that quaint British way at 9.09 am, he got a very warm round of applause. Indeed, it was a louder cheer than local hero Justin Rose got a few moments later.
“They’ve always been respectful and enthusiastic here,” Woods said.
“There’s no reason it would be any different.”
Well, there is, of course, a reason why it’d be different this year. But the point is that it wasn’t.
“They were great out there today,” Woods said.
And while his play may not have been great, it was certainly better.
When he won here in 2000 and again in ‘05 he began with rounds of 66 and 67. The difference then was that he went on to win by eight and five strokes, respectively. The question now is whether he’s got three more good rounds in him.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “A long way to go.”
