Patrick Reed expresses his appreciation for Scotland at British Open

Patrick Reed has rubbed his fellow players on the PGA Tour the wrong way sometimes with his assured confidence, and at only 25, he’s not among the cool group of his generation. He doesn’t post buddy vacation photos from faraway islands.

He’s got some new friends in Scotland, though.

Reed holed out his second shot from the fairway at Royal Troon’s No. 3 and made five birdies and two bogeys in opening with a five-under-par 66 on Thursday. That tied him for second, three shots behind leader Phil Mickelson, with two-time major winner Martin Kaymer of Germany.

What Reed said afterward surely warmed the hearts of Scots as he raved about the country, the lifestyle and his love for links golf.

Reed recalled how much he enjoyed the experience of playing in the Junior Open and watching the Open Championship in 2006 at Royal Liverpool when Tiger Woods won.

“Just watching the different shots that other players were hitting,” Reed said, “I always thought it would be fun, because I love to create shots and hit the funny things. At home, we can’t do that. It’s too soft.”

Reed also said he feels different mentally on this side of the Atlantic. He arrived last week to play in the Scottish Open, where he tied for 10th. He lauded life’s “simplicity” here.

“You literally just have that kind of relaxed feeling that you have golf and then relaxing time,” he said. “It’s definitely a way different pace than back home. It’s nice.”

Drama at Postage Stamp

The margin between greatness and ignominy was a couple of feet at Troon’s famous Postage Stamp eighth hole in the first round.

With the cup on the 123-yard par-three tucked near the coffin bunker on the left, there were players such as Rory McIlroy who hit just a smidgen to the right of the bunker, kicking their ball into birdie range. McIlroy, who made a 9 on the hole in a practice round, got to 2 feet for a tap-in 2. Mickelson did the same.

Then there were those who barely missed and experienced disaster. Among them was Bubba Watson, an early leader after getting to five under.

Watson’s shot stuck up against the bunker’s left side, forcing the left-hander to play the ball out of the back. But that shot ended up going over the green into long rough, and it took Watson two more indifferent lobs to get to 20 feet from the hole. He missed the putt and made a triple-bogey 6 to drop from first to ninth. He ended up shooting one-under 70.

Kevin Na, a right-hander, later had Watson’s same lie. Na tried punching the other way, back toward the tee, but left his ball in the bunker. Na then blasted to 15 feet, and when he made the bogey putt, he swept the putter emphatically forward as if he’d made birdie.

Graeme McDowell ended up in heavy rough above the left bunker, and when he somehow escaped to keep the ball on the green, he got applause from playing partners Matt Kuchar and Andrew “Beef” Johnston.

For the round, the eighth played as the eighth-hardest hole. It yielded 33 birdies, 25 bogeys and seven “others.” The worst score was Yusaku Miyazato’s 7.

Etc.

In the benign conditions, 50 of the 156 players shot under par, and 34 scored in the 60s. The worst score was an 85 by Sandy Lyle; and another former Open champion, David Duval, shot 82.

South African Louis Oosthuizen made a hole in one on the par-three 14th.

Playing on the home course of his childhood, 53-year-old Colin Montgomerie shot even-par 71. He bounced back from a double-bogey on the first hole to make five birdies in a seven-hole stretch.

Easily the most talked about player attire was John Daly’s cream-colored pants featuring giant pineapples. The 1995 British Open champion, now playing on the PGA Tour Champions, shot 75.

tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com