Scrum Kind of Start at Open

They threw open the doors to Royal St. George’s and in blew the British Open, right on cue. Instead of sunshine, there was rain. Showers changed to a sky the color of mud. Calm conditions flew out the window and blustery gusts blew in.

So you have to say it was a typical opening day Thursday at Royal St. George’s, where once again, it was business as unusual.

For instance, Tiger Woods lost his ball on his first shot of the tournament, in long, brown stuff that looked like hay.

“It was a little disconcerting,” said Woods, thus heralding himself as the master of the understatement.

At least Woods came back and finished at two over with a 73, which places him only five shots behind the first-round leader, a former rugby player from South Africa named Hennie Otto, who once chucked all his clubs into a lake after a bad round, but this time had no such problem.

Otto, one of only five players who broke par, played before the wind chopped it up too bad and shot a three-under 68.

With the wind whipping the players’ pants, like rippling flags flying on legs, it was not a particularly good day for scoring.

Either that, or it was just a normal day at the British Open.

Chris Smith, who was three under through six holes and six over the rest of the way, finished with a 74.

“If you let it drive you crazy, you can literally go insane,” he said.

Darned British Open. Maybe that’s how you explain the things that just keep happening here, on a day the average score was 76.5:

How Jerry Kelly made an 11 on the first hole, hurt his wrist chopping the ball out of a clump of wet grass, shot 86 and then pulled out because of an injury.

How Colin Montgomerie had to join him on the sidelines because he slipped on the hotel stairs on the way to breakfast and hurt his wrist.

How Thomas Bjorn went from one shot out of the lead to Nowheresville by making an eight on the 17th hole, including a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker.

How David Duval’s slide continued, his tee shot at the 18th at least 30 yards off-line costing him a seven and an exasperating round of 12-over 83.

How the threesome of Ernie Els, David Toms and Shigeki Maruyama could play a combined 54 holes between them and not have a single birdie, at a total of 28 over par. Els, the defending champion, shot a 78, his worst round in a major.

Or how Greg Norman, who is 48, has a bad back and has now played only six rounds this year, found himself only one shot out of the lead with a 69, tied with Davis Love III.

Actually, Nick Faldo could explain that one.

“He’s obviously a great fisherman,” said Faldo, who shot a 76. “He’s only played three times this year. Lucky devil, that’s what I’m thinking now. When I get myself a billion-dollar boat, I’m going to be fishing more than playing golf.”

Meanwhile, as for the leader, it was a day to remember.

Otto was delivered straight from the casting department in the role of unknown hero for a day.

The 27-year-old has not won a European PGA Tour event and is playing in his first British Open. For such an opportunity, Otto considers himself fortunate. Three years ago, he had back surgery and thought he would never be able to play again.

“After the operation, you are always scared after a few months,” said Otto, who says his back is fine. “It’s all up to standard, I think.”

Out of bed at 4 a.m. Thursday, Otto was in the first group off the tee at 6:30 a.m. He never questioned his early start or his decision to leave rugby for golf.

“Wanted to play rugby, but golf was where the money is,” he said after making five birdies. “To be honest, so [few] people make it in rugby. You have to be a superstar and you have to be 6 foot 4 and I’m only 5 foot 7.”

Otto might not be big, but Love and Norman are big names. Then you have 5-8 S.K. Ho of South Korea, who is neither big nor a big name, but still shot a 70 and is tied for fourth with Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden.

Of course, the biggest name of all belongs to Woods, whose opening triple bogey wasn’t the start he was looking for. It wasn’t pretty. Woods slashed his drive into ankle-deep rough on the right, but no one could find his ball.

He had to go back to the first tee, take a one-shot penalty and hit another drive for his third shot. This time, his ball landed near the same place his first one had, but they found it this time. Woods hacked the ball through the fairway and near some television cables to the left. From there he hit a wedge onto the green and two-putted from 18 feet.

Scott McCarron, who shot an even-par 71, knows how easy it is to go wrong and how difficult it can be to find your ball.

“You hit your shot, pick up your tee and go and see where it is,” he said.

Woods hit only three fairways, but he was pleased he is still within shouting distance of the leaders despite a disastrous start.

“I just had to bear down,” he said. “You have lots of holes to go. You can shoot yourself straight out of this event and I just tried to be as patient as possible and keep myself right in there.

“I’ve kept myself in the tournament.”

Love is four shots ahead of Woods, mainly because he played the first hole better.

Love talked it over with Darren Clarke, his playing partner, and decided the best strategy at the first tee was to do just about anything except hit the ball to the right.

“So I just took a club where I knew I couldn’t hit into it,” said Love, who used a one-iron.

He was close enough to use a seven-iron for his second shot and stopped the ball 18 feet from the hole. Love made the birdie putt and then made another at the par-five fourth even though he drove into the left rough.

Love moved to three under when he rolled in a 20-foot putt to birdie the 17th, but dropped a shot when he closed with a bogey at 18. He hit a four-iron second shot to the left, chipped to 20 feet and two-putted.

But the key to Love’s round may have been that he avoided a big number at the start when he avoided the rough on No. 1

“There are four or five places out there that are just really, really bad, and you’ve got to stay away from them, and that’s one of them,” he said.

It seems to be sound advice. Maybe avoiding bad places at all costs is the answer.

Tame the British Open? Take your best shot. Then go try to find your ball.