[Photo: Ross Flannigan/Australian Golf Digest]
Adam Scott was relieved to get in the clubhouse only five shots off the pace after a bogey at the last ended a solid back-nine charge during round one at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
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Scott missed the fairway with the iron from the tee at the majestic 18th at Portrush and wedged out of thick rough before narrowly missing a par putt. He tapped in for a one-over-par 72. At one-over, Scott was five shots behind clubhouse co-leaders at four-under – Jacob Skov Olesen, Chinese star Haotong Li and former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (67).
The 2013 Masters champion was two-over through 11 holes on day one and in danger of heading further south on the leaderboard when he missed the fairway into thick rough at the reachable, par-5 12th. But he hit a solid approach and got up-and-down for birdie before knocking his tee shot at the short par-3 13th to level his scorecard.
Scott wasn’t thrilled, given how well he struck his irons and putted, but was pleased he didn’t rule himself out of the tournament in his 97th consecutive major start.
“Yeah, I mean, kind of. It could have got away,” Scott said after his round. “I don’t know; it felt like we teed off in the rain and played the whole lot in the rain. It was tricky at times. But my golf was okay. Shame about the last.”
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Portrush has pockets on the layout where the world’s best players can attack if conditions permit, such as the stretch from the fifth to the seventh, where there is a driveable par 4, a short par 3 and then a par 5.
“It is handy having birdies; I’d like to have some more stretches like that,” Scot said of the other tempting part of the course at the 12th and 13th. “It’s always an equation at the majors of how much do you press, how much are you going to go and try and hit it close? It’s really hard here at a links when the wind is blowing and you’ve got to hang it way up the other side of the course and try and have it come back. Sometimes you can’t get it close. So how aggressive you play is always the thing, and when you go for it and pull off a few, birdies go a long way.
“I’m not out of it, but I’m going to have to have a good morning tomorrow. Hopefully the weather cooperates.”
Scott was tied at one-over with 2022 Open champion Cam Smith also shooting a 72. Jason Day and Marc Leishman were a shot worse after a 73 each, while Lucas Herbert (74), Elvis Smylie (75), and Ryan Peake all carded over-par rounds.
Min Woo Lee (even par) and Curtis Luck (four-over) were still out on course at 7pm.
