You can make numbers say just about anything you want. But taken on face value, they can also tell a pretty compelling story all by themselves. Consider these 17 numbers we’ve aggregated that help provide context for what happened during the first round of the Open Championship at Carnoustie.
Highlights from Round 1 of #TheOpen at Carnoustie ⛳️ pic.twitter.com/IKNOoyecZ3
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2018
31
Number of players who shot under par on Thursday. By comparison, 24 players broke par during round one when The Open was last played at Carnoustie in 2007 and nobody broke par the previous playing before that in 1999.
1
Number of threesomes where all three players broke par: Jon Rahm (69), Rickie Fowler (70), Chris Wood (70).
0
Inches of rain that fell at Carnoustie during the opening round.
22
Number of putts Kevin Kisner took as he posted the day’s low score, 66, to finish as the first-round leader.
69
First-round score that had you to shoot to tie for eighth place after the first round.
69
First-round score that had you to shoot to tie for eighth place after the first round in 2007.
82
High round on Thursday, posted by Darren Clarke, Thomas Curtis and Masanori Kobayashi.
15
Number of players who averaged 350 (or more) yards driving during the first round. Bryson DeChambeau topped the field at 379 yards (347 metres).
309.7
Average drive, in yards (283.2 metres), Sergio Garcia hit for all four rounds at the 2007 Open at Carnoustie (when conditions were softer), which led the field for the week.
367
Average drive, in yards (336 metres), hit by Garcia during round one at the 2018 Open at Carnoustie, putting him fifth for the field through 18 holes.
4
Number of birdies made on the par-3 16th hole, the least of any hole during the opening round. The 16th ranked the toughest hole, playing to 3.462. The 12th hole (4.397) was the second toughest, and the 17th (4.321) was the third.
13
Double-bogeys or worse recorded on the 18th hole.
8
Double-bogeys or worse recorded on the 10th hole, the next closest.
10
Stroke different between Brooks Koepka’s front-nine (41) and the back-nine (31) totals en route to his one-over 72.
45
Minutes (approximately) Jhonattan Vegas was on the course at Carnoustie this week before teeing off at 10:31am.
8-under
Combined score in relation to par of the “frat house” golfers staying together in the adjoining rented homes this week: Kevin Kisner (-5), Justin Thomas (-2), Zach Johnson (-2), Rickie Fowler (-1), Jordan Spieth (+1) and Jimmy Walker (+1).
884
Minutes between when the first tee shot was struck to start the round to the last putt was holed to end the round by the entire field at Carnoustie.
