Adam Scott discovered himself hitting completely different golf equipment round Royal Troon on Thursday morning than what he’d practiced with.
He wasn’t alone.
Rivals arrived for his or her opening rounds at this 152nd Open Championship and have been greeted with a special wind. After blowing primarily from the northwest and west through the observe days, the wind modified route on Thursday morning, coming from the south and even briefly from the southeast. In consequence, the often simpler entrance 9 performed right into a constant 10-15 mph fan.
“That was wild,” mentioned Justin Thomas, who hadn’t performed the entrance 9 on this wind, although he nonetheless managed to take the early clubhouse lead with a 3-under 68. “I bear in mind making an attempt to drive 1 and three in 2016.”
On Thursday, Thomas hit 7-iron into the primary inexperienced and had a wedge into the third. He additionally was unable to succeed in both par 5, having at the very least 90 yards left for his third photographs into the fourth and sixth greens.
“Yeah, utterly modified,” added Min Woo Lee. “The best way the ball was bouncing on the again 9 was precisely the way in which the entrance 9 was taking part in. It was very completely different to what I practiced. … Going from a really simpler 9, hitting 7-iron, 6-iron off the tees changed into 2-irons. Similar because the again 9. You usually hit driver, and now you’re hitting 4-iron.”
The flip in wind route, at the very least to date, has had a reasonably drastic impact on scoring. Again in 2016, the entrance 9 featured simply two of the eight hardest holes for the week – Nos. 5 (eighth hardest) and 9 (seven hardest). Simply earlier than 10 a.m. ET, the entrance accounted for 5 of the eight most troublesome holes, together with No. 5 (second hardest) and No. 9 (third hardest). No. 12, which additionally performed into the wind, was essentially the most troublesome.
“It’s going to play as straightforward as it may well all week, I believe, as a result of the ball is getting up there on these holes, just like the eleventh,” Adam Scott mentioned. “Final time I performed it, it was 2-irons and 3-irons into each gap, and immediately it was a sand wedge into 15.”
Justin Rose didn’t document a bogey, including two birdies to shoot 69. Rose provided some completely different ideas on the wind, commenting not a lot on the route however the consistency.
“I believe immediately is nice,” Rose mentioned. “I believe, what’s it, 12 to fifteen miles an hour? That’s sort of the sting the place you’re in charge of the golf ball and the weather aren’t in management, and I believe that’s a pleasant solution to play. I believe when it will get greater than that, the weather dictate a bit of bit greater than the participant dictates, and I believe that’s the place it simply turns into, OK, simply grasp in, grasp powerful, see what occurs.
“However I believe when you can keep feeling such as you’re in management over the great photographs, and when you hit a great shot you’ll possible know what the result goes to be, that’s a pleasant solution to play to golf, and I believe that’s the way it was immediately.”
An identical wind route is predicted for Friday’s second spherical, although with as much as 27 mph gusts (in comparison with 23 mph on Thursday), whereas the weekend may lighter winds shift extra in from the west, also called crosswind territory.
