By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — Unlike the guys in charge of the weather forecast, Adam Scott got everything just about right Thursday in the British Open.
Scott was determined not to take himself out of contention in the opening round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, as he had done in the first two majors this year. Caddie Steve Williams gave him a pep talk to play the first hole like it was the last one. Even more inspiration came from the international flags posted above the massive grandstand down the left side of the first tee.
They weren’t flapping. They were sagging.
In surprisingly calm conditions, Scott raced out to the lead and almost into the record book. He stood on the 18th tee needing a birdie to break the major championship scoring record, and instead made bogey to settle for a 6-under 64.
It matched the lowest Open round ever at Royal Lytham and gave the Australian a one-shot lead over Paul Lawrie, Zach Johnson and Nicolas Colsaerts.
“It was just like a nice walk in the park today,” Scott said. “And it was not what we’ve experienced in the practice rounds. I’m sure there’s going to be some weather elements thrown at us the next three days, so just going to have to knuckle down to handle that. But I’m confident. My ball striking is good. I think I can get it around no matter what the conditions are.”
The proof was in limp flags and red numbers on the scoreboards.
Scott was among three dozen players with rounds in the 60s, a group that included Tiger Woods. Trying to end a four-year drought in the majors, Woods raced out to four birdies in seven holes to take the early lead, only to settle into a series of pars and one adventure through grass up to his knees for a lone bogey that gave him a 67. Woods said it was as easy as he had ever seen it play.
“The wind wasn’t blowing, and we’re backing golf balls up,” Woods said. “That’s something we just don’t see.”
Lawrie won his British Open in nasty conditions at Carnoustie in 1999, and the Scot showed he could handle the calm weather with equal aplomb. He ran off three birdies over the last five holes. Johnson, who won the 2006 Masters in the wind and cold at Augusta National, flirted with a major record-tying 63 until a bogey on the 17th hole. Colsaerts, the big hitter from Belgium, holed out with an 8-iron on the 481-yard second hole for eagle and added four birdies for his 65.
Brandt Snedeker was another shot behind at 66.
“We had a little wind early on the front nine, but it kind of calmed down the second half,” Snedeker said “That’s the best Americans are going to see over here.”
One sign of the easy scoring was that no one shot in the 80s. That hasn’t happened in the opening round of the British Open since 1998 at Royal Birkdale.
Scott was on fire. After an early bogey when he got out of position on the third hole, he warmed up with birdies on the sixth and seventh holes, and then ran off three straight birdies on the back nine, starting with the 598-yard 11th hole that he reached in two shots.
Royal Lytham was changed to a par 70 this year, and with a birdie on the 16th that put him at 7 under, Scott needed one more birdie to become the first player with a 62 in the majors. There have been 25 rounds of 63.
“I was waiting to use the bathroom going to the 17th tee and I did a look at the leaderboard and realized it was a par 70,” he said. “And I also probably then realized that I wasn’t going to be the guy to shoot 62. It’s one of those things that you don’t want to go through your mind, thinking about your final score and stuff like that.”
He slightly pulled a 2-iron off the tee on the 18th, played out of the thick rough short of the green and failed to save par.
No matter. His 64, which matched Tom Lehman’s third-round score in 1996 when he went on to win his only major.