First of all why do so many North Americans, and I include fomer pros like Ian Leggatt who was just listening to, never mind all the Yanks, have so much trouble with the correct name of this the grandaddy of all golf events " The Open Championship"..
We have the US Open, the Canadian Open, The Spanish Open etc, but long before the Scots introduced golf to North America this event was called 'the Open Championship", everyone in the world of golf knows what it is..
Further when ESPN's crew who spend the morning calling it the British Open until the Laird himself, Peter Alliss shows up on set, as if corrected by the school teacher they start calling it the Open Championship..
What is the problem ?? It's called the Open Championship around the world, don't worry Bubba and Skeeter won't be confused
So here it is done properly.. " Leading the 140th Open Championship at Royal St Georges at -5 65.. Thomas Bjorn and amateur Tom Lewis"...
Seems so easy, but for some reason over here, so difficult..
europeantour.com...There were two stars on a remarkable first day of The Open — 40-year-old veteran pro Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and 20-year-old English amateur Tom Lewis. Bjorn set the target score of 65, five under par, in some of the worst of the morning weather, only to be matched in the calmer afternoon conditions by the young player who won the Boys Amateur Championship over this course just two years ago.
Behind them a total of 35 players finished under par on a day of huge contrasts and mixed fortunes.
Bjorn ironically who came so close to winning here in 2003, admitted that his game had been in tatters since the death of his father earlier this summer. “Dad meant a lot to me,” he said. “He would have been very proud of what I did today.”
The tall Dane only got into The Open on Monday night when Fiji’s Vijay Singh pulled out through injury and he finally pulled his swing together in an intensive practice session with coach Pete Cowen on the eve of the Championship. Ironically, the young amateur who matched him in the lead is also coached by Cowen.
Lewis completed his remarkable round in a calm and assured fashion in company with five-time Open champion and crowd favourite Tom Watson, out-scoring the man after whom he was named by seven shots. Three birdies and no dropped shots over the opening nine holes set him on his way, but bogeys at the short 11th and dog-legged 13th made many doubt that he could withstand the pressure. But that sort of thinking is not in Lewis’ make-up and he finished with four consecutive birdies and a par — the best closing stretch by any player in the field.
Miguel Angel Jimenez was another player who made a fine score in the worst of the conditions for third place at four under. When asked if he would celebrate with a glass of his favourite Rioja, the 47-year old Spanish Ryder Cup veteran answered. “I did not celebrate last night, but I had a glass of Rioja.” He was joined in third spot late in the day by Lucas Glover, the US Open champion of 2009, and Webb Simpson, who joined the US PGA Tour in 2009 and has yet to win a tournament.
Graeme McDowell saved what could have been a disastrous day when he opened with a six and was three over after five holes. Six birdies, including a 3-3 finish, lifted him to a tie for sixth place in company with Simon Dyson and a resurgent Darren Clarke. A dozen players are on that mark, including USPGA champion Martin Kaymer and 18-year-old Korean Jung-Gon Hwang who stepped straight into his first Open thanks to his maiden victory on the Japan Golf Tour. His only dropped shots were at the first and last. In between then it was pars and four birdies.
World number one Luke Donald and newly-crowned US Open champion Rory McIlroy found it difficult to make progress even though the weather conditions improved during their rounds. Lee Westwood and Masters winner Charl Schwartzel faced the same problems and all four fought hard to keep their scores at one over.
Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen also struggled for a 72 and Ben Curtis, the man who won the last time The Open was played at Royal St George’s, finished with a 77
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles
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