Watson puts Woods in the shade
Tiger Woods got his bid for a 15th major title under way in the Open Championship at Turnberry today – but was in danger of being upstaged by the oldest man in the field.
Woods opened with a par four on the first hole, allowing himself a wry smile after completely misreading his birdie putt from 10 feet.
That left the world number one two shots behind unlikely early joint leader Tom Watson, the 59-year-old who won the famous ’Duel in the Sun’ with Jack Nicklaus here back in 1977.
Watson, a five-time Open champion, had birdied the first from five feet, holed from 20ft for a second on the third and saw another birdie putt on the next lip out.
At two under par he was joined at the top of the leaderboard by another veteran former Open champion, the 49-year-old 1989 winner Mark Calcavecchia and Ireland’s Graeme McDowell.
Calcavecchia had practised with Woods earlier this week in preparation for being in the first group out at 6.30am – England’s Paul Broadhurst hitting the opening shot – and birdied the second, seventh and 11th with a bogey on the third.
McDowell, who has led the Open after the opening round twice in the last three years, was another player to take advantage of the short par-four opening hole and also birdied the third in flat, calm conditions.
Lee Westwood, playing alongside Woods and teenage Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa, birdied the first after a superb approach to two feet.
However, it was still possible to get into some serious trouble as yet another former winner, Greg Norman, discovered to his cost.
The 54-year-old, winner here in 1986 and third at Birkdale last year, had warned yesterday that it was possible to lose a ball just “nine or 10 feet” off the fairway, and his prediction came true on the fifth.
After driving into rough right of the fairway, Norman hacked his second shot into more heavy rough left of the fairway and was unable to find the ball after a five-minute search.
That led to a double-bogey six and, at three over par, he was five off the lead and 41st of the 45 players out on the course.
McDowell led on his own when he birdied the fifth, but then three-putted the sixth for bogey to fall back into a six-way tie for the lead.
Westwood had joined the group with a birdie on the second from seven feet and Sergio Garcia got to two under in even more spectacular style, the Spaniard holing from 30ft for an eagle on the par-five seventh.
Woods had also birdied the second to move to one under and then got a lucky break on the third after pulling his drive into thick rough.
His ball finished under a poorly-placed television tower and the free drop enabled him to chase his second shot just through the green.
