Jacob Skov Olesen was one of the best stories of Day 1 of the British Open and certainly the most surprising name atop the leaderboard at Royal Portrush. Sadly for the 26-year-old Dane, his name didn’t stay up there long on Day 2.
Olesen teed off Friday morning feeling confident enough to hit driver on Portrush’s intimidating opening hole. As our Luke Kerr-Dineen broke down, that’s a bold strategy, Cotton. And one that didn’t pay off.
RELATED: How pros are tackling Royal Portrush’s terrifying opening tee shot
The lefty yanked one way right and OB. Then he re-teed and pushed his driver left and . . . also OB. Here’s a look at how it looked on shot tracker:
That’s about as tough of a start as possible. Especially for someone who was so locked in the day before.
Olesen hit an iron off the tee for his third attempt—and fifth shot—and finally put one in play. He wound up making a disastrous quadruple bogey on the hole and just like that, those four strokes he picked up on par during that opening 67 were gone.
If it’s of any solace to the DP World Tour rookie (it probably won’t be), Rory McIlroy also made an ocho on this hole during the 2019 Open. And to Olesen’s credit, he bounced back with birdie on No. 2. But obviously, that’s a real blow to hit title chances—and the latest reminder of just how dangerous Portrush’s first hole can be.
RELATED: Watch Bryson DeChambeau completely WHIFF a shot on Day 1
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
