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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Mickelson's bid for a record 62 lips out at The Open.

The Open leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016054/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y

Well I mentioned earlier today I was surprised nobody had gone lower than Patrick Reed's -5 66 which held up pretty well all day.

With the tide out and any breeze there was down to a breath, the late wave caught a nice break and Phil Mickelson took full advantage with a new course record 63 for the first round lead, however he wasn't entirely happy as his chance to add another footnote to the history books lipped out on the 18th green.

Nobody has ever shot 62 in the 145 years of The Open or in any major.

Phil Mickelson was millimetres from doing just that with birdies on the 14th, 16th and 17th giving him the opportunity to become the first if he could make another birdie on 18.

He narrowly missed a fairway bunker with his tee shot and his approach was good, just inside 20 feet away. The putt was good as well heading right on line before it broke right and lipped round the back of the hole.

"That putt on 18 was an opportunity to do something historical," he said. "I knew it and with a foot to go I thought I had done it. I saw that ball rolling right in the centre.
 His brilliant effort see him 3 shots clear of Patrick Reed and Germany's Martin Kaymer .

Reed's 66 had equalled the record for the lowest opening round in an Open Championship at Troon before Mickelson blew that away on a day of perfect scoring conditions in Scotland
Dane Søren Kjeldsen and England's Andy Sullivan are in the group at -4 alongside defending champion Zach Johnson,  with Justin Rose, Soomin Lee, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Richard Sterne and Thomas Pieters among those at -3

As for the big boys, Jason Day shot a disappointing +2 73, Rory had an up and down day ending up with -2 69, Jordan Spieth had 33 putts on his way to E71. Rickie Fowler is in with -2 69.
Sandy Lyle had the worst score at +14 85... Davis Duval +11 82
 
The weather forecast for Friday http://www.bbc.com/weather/2635442  Rain arriving in the morning on the west coast with freshening winds from the south, the opposite from this morning which was sunny with a wee breeze from the NE.
 
Expect scoring to rise accordingly.



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