Thursday, July 14, 2011

AMATEUR LEWIS EQUALS BJORN'S 65 LATE ON DAY 1 AT THE OPEN

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
A day of surprises at The Open Championship ended with the lowest-ever round by an amateur in the 140-year history of the tournament as Tom Lewis joined Thomas Bjorn in a share of the lead.
Twenty year old Lewis, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, a qualifier from the same Welwyn Garden City club that produced Sir Nick Faldo, went round Royal St George's in a five under par 65.

And he leads with Bjorn, the Dane who eight years ago on the course led by three with four holes to play before stumbling over the closing stretch and losing by one to shock winner Ben Curtis.

Lewis, the first amateur to share the lead in the event since Michael Bonallack at Carnoustie in 1968, has a previous memory of the links too - but a great one.
He won the British boys' championship here two years ago and earned a return trip by winning a final qualifying event down the coast at Rye two weeks ago.
His 65 beats by one the previous amateur record set by American Frank Stranahan in 1950 and subsequently matched by Tiger Woods in 1996 and Justin Rose two years later.

Lewis played with five-time champion Tom Watson - the player he is named after - and was inspired just like 16 year old Matteo Manassero was at Turnberry in 2009.

Watson indirectly helped the young Italian finish 13th while he himself, of course, was agonisingly just missing out on becoming golf's oldest Major Champion by 12 years.

This time the American legend was out-scored by seven shots by an English amateur who has now stepped onto the global stage at the very time England also have the top two players in the (professional) Official World Golf Ranking.

Luke Donald and Lee Westwood both came in with 71s, as did 22 year old Rory McIlroy in his first event since his runaway US Open Championship success.

But they were pushed into the shade by Lewis, who qualified with rounds of 63 and 65.

"I don't even know what happened out there - I can't remember," he said.

"I'm thrilled to bits and I couldn't have played with a more generous man.

"Tom was great to play with. He wanted me to do well and helped me out."

Bjorn's 65 had long finished when Lewis teed off just after 2.30pm, but he started making inroads with a 2 at the 240-yard third.

Conditions were kind to the late starters, with rain clearing away and the wind speed dropping, but nobody made hay like the youngster.

He got up and down from a bunker at the long seventh, then added another birdie at the 453 yard next to turn in 32.

It looked as if he might fall back into the pack when he bogeyed the 11th and 13th, but then came an incredible four birdies in a row at a quirkey links where Curtis was the only player to finish under par eight years ago.

The last of Lewis's birdies was a 20 footer that brought him alongside Bjorn and he then chipped to five feet on the last and made the putt to stay there.
+Tom Lewis will be playing over Royal Aberdeen Golf Club's Balgownie links next Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday as a member of Walker Cup captain Nigel Edwards' practice squad for the match against the United States on September 10-11.


THOMAS BJORN - THE EARLIER STORY ON
DAY 1 OF THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPThomas Bjorn's career has been something of a roller-coaster since he narrowly missed out on the 2003 Open Championship at Sandwich, but his opening five under par 65 on the tournament's return to the Kent course certainly represented a high point.
It held the clubhouse lead for most of the day until Welwyn Garden City GC amateur Tom Lewis, pictured left, a Walker Cup team place candidate, birdied seven holes in all, including four in a row from the 14th, to match the Great Dane's 65.
So some found the Royal George's quirky links easy -but others, such as runaway US Open winner Rory McIlroy, World No 1 Luke Donald and Lee Westwood had to work really hard for 71s.
In Bjorn's case there was a story behind a story, more to it than just a popular golfer rising to the top at a venue that brought him such heartache.The 40 year old Dane was the sixth reserve for the event nine days ago and knew he was playing only late on Monday when Vijay Singh - joint runner-up with him eight years ago - withdrew.
But there was even more to it than that.
Bjorn lost his father Ole, the man he always turned to when things were going wrong either in his golf or his personal life, after a long illness two months ago.
He is still grieving and it was too much for him when his passing was mentioned at his post-round press conference.
"He meant a lot to me," said Bjorn before tears started flowing and, after asking for a moment to gather himself again, he added: "He would have been very proud of what I did today. That's all I've really got to say."
This is Bjorn's first trip to Royal St George's since, eight years ago, he stood four under par with four to play and finished bogey, double bogey, bogey, par to lose by one to shock winner Ben Curtis.
If the Dane had played as he did this morning over the same stretch he would have won the 2003 Open title by four strokes!
Off at 7.25am - "this is about the only championship where I look forward to a tee time before eight," he joked - Bjorn reached three under after eight holes before missing a two foot par putt at the next.
Far from it leading to a downward spiral, however, he came back with another birdie at the 11th and had three more in a row, starting at the long 14th.
On the short 16th, the hole where he needed three attempts to get out of a bunker eight years ago, he gave a sigh of relief and then a big smile when his tee shot not only avoided trouble, but kicked off a bank to eight feet.
Bjorn insisted he stayed in the moment all day rather than thinking back - not just to the last day, but also the opening day when he took 8 on the 17th after being penalised for hitting the sand before he was out of it.
This time he parred it, but at the last he chose to chip rather than putt from just left of the green, struck it too hard and bogeyed.
"A lot of people have asked me what I feel about the
2003 Open," he added.
"It's in the past. I always look ahead - I'm 40 years old and there might just be a little bit more in me."
McIlroy, trying to be the youngest Open Champion since 1893 just a month after he was the youngest US Open Champion since 1923, had his mind mostly on what he was doing, of course.
But after coming back from two over par after three the 22 year old commented: "On the 11th tee we're like 'What is he (Thomas Bjorn) doing? How is he six under par?' Fantastic - great to see him doing well.
"It would be a great story if he could get himself into contention again going into Sunday."
Bjorn was in a play-off just a week after his Open heartbreak, but a year later walked away from the game for a while after revealing he was "fighting demons."
He has won four times since his return, most recently in Qatar in February, and was a runner-up in the 2005 US PGA championship, where he equalled the Major record with his third round 63.
Donald, clear winner of the Barclays Scottish Open last Sunday, mixed three birdies with four bogeys, while Lee Westwood, third and second the last two years, left himself with catching up to do as well after a hat-trick of bogeys from the third.
Westwood finished the day on one-over-par 71, th3e same mark as Luke Donald and The 46 year old Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez had a 66, the same score as former US Open champion Lucas Glover and they bedded down for the night in joint third place behind Bjorn and Lewis on 65.
Westwood made birdie 4 at the long 14th here and with a 20 footer at the next had recovered to one over par, which was his score at the end of 18 holes.
Lewis was already having a day to remember, but it got even better when made it four birdies in a row with a 20 foot putt on the 17th and with that went into the joint lead with Bjorn.
Westwood finished with a 71 and Graeme McDowell, who opened with a double bogey and stood three over after five, came roaring back to shoot 68.
SCOTSWATCH

It was not a day to be waving the Scottish Saltire with Stephen Gallacher and Peter Whiteford the best from north of the Border on the par 70 mark which left him joint 37th going into Day 2. Phil Mickelson also had a 70.
Paul Lawrie, who finished high up in the field behind winner Greg Norman in the 1993 Open over the Sandwich links, had a 73 which leaves him in danger of missing the cut. He is currently sharing 94th position with a Scot who won the Open over this course, Sandy Lyle.
Scott Jamieson had a disappointing 75 to be in joint 129th position, definitely in need of something special tomorrow.
LEADERBOARD
Par 70
65 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Tom Lewis (Welwyn Garden City) (am)
66 Miguel-Angel Jimenez (Spain), Lucas Glover (US), Webb Simpson (US).
68 Simon Dyson (England), Kyle Stanley (US), Darren Clarke (N Ireland), Graeme McDowell (N Ireland), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Fredrik Andersson Hed (Sweden), Ricky Barnes (US), Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), Jeff Overton (US), Kurt Barnes (Australia).
69 Danny Willett (England), Mark Calcavecchia (US), Ryan Moore (US), Yuto Ikeda (Japan), Ian Poulter (England), Anders Hansen (Denmark), Alexandr Noren (Sweden), Seung-Yul Noh (S Korea), Richard McEvoy (England), Chad Campbell (US), Edoardo Molinari (Italy), Adam Scott (Australia), Bubba Watson (US), Steve Stricker (US), Robert Allenby (Australia), J B Holmes (US).

SELECTED OTHER SCORES
70 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland), Peter Whiteford (Scotland), Phil Mickelson (US) (T37)
71 Rory McIlroy (N Ireland), Luke Donald (England), Lee Westwood (England) (T53).
72 Justin Rose (England), Tom Watson (US), Jim Furyk (US), Martin Laird (Scotland) (T71).
73 Paul Lawrie (Scotland), Sandy Lyle (Scotland) (T94).
75 Scott Jamieson (Scotland) (T129)


To view all the scores and scorecards

CLICK HERE FOR THE OPEN SCOREBOARD

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