In golfing vernacular, he is a bomber. And, in this first round of the 144th British Open on the Old Course, Dustin Johnson – seeking retribution or redemption or possibly both after his travails in last month’s US Open – showed no evidence of any lingering mental wounds or scars as he used his prodigious drives to good effect.
For him, hitting it long – often over 350 yards – and taking advantage of such length, proved to be the best medicine, for now, for what happened some eight time zones away a month ago.
Johnson’s opening gambit here, an opening seven-under-par 65, was hugely impressive for many reasons, not least for the fact that his nemesis from Chambers Bay had, in a mischievous act by the R&A, been grouped with him. This time, though, Jordan Spieth was not the centre of attention, even if the winner of the season’s first two Majors finished just two shots adrift of his fellow-American. A 67 from Spieth was not to be sniffed at.
Crazy ability
And, although left in Johnson’s slipstream for much of the round, there was no sense of envy or concession of any advantage from Spieth. “I’ve played enough golf with him to where I believe in my skill set that I can still trump that crazy ability that he has,” said Spieth of Johnson’s huge drives. In other words, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
On a day of generally good scoring, with the earlier starters seemingly having the best of conditions, there was evidence too that it wasn’t all about the big-hitters. As much as Dustin Johnson’s length from the tee was to his advantage, meaning he was hitting wedges into no fewer than 12 of the course’s Par 4s and was able to use a putter on another, his short-hitting namesake Zach also inveigled a way to score. Johnson the Elder shot a 66, as did another moderate-length hitter in Paul Lawrie.
Sweden’s David Lingmerth – one of those in the earlier wave – had shown the way, going to the turn in just 29 strokes. Lingmerth leaked some shots coming home, signing for a 69, but his front nine demonstrated to others that low scoring was on.
As Luke Donald put it, “when guys have short irons in their hands with soft greens, you’re going to make some birdies. It doesn’t matter how tucked the pins are.”
When all was said and done, more than 60 players had signed for sub-par scores. But it is likely to get more difficult from here on in, with a weather front – of rain and strong winds, gusting up to 40 miles per hour – predicted for Friday.
In the first round, the 17th hole – playing to an average of 4.8, almost a shot above its par – failed to give up a single birdie and was the toughest of all, with Mark Calcavecchia recording a quintuple nine there and Shane Lowry a quadruple eight.
There were no such horror stories for Johnson, nor indeed for those in closest pursuit: a sextet of players – featuring Zach Johnson, Robert Streb, Retief Goosen, Paul Lawrie, Jason Day and Danny Willet – produced 66s to lead the chasing pack.
Of the five-strong Irish contingent, only amateur Paul Dunne managed to better par.
Dunne shot a 69, whilst Pádraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell signed for level-par 72s and Lowry and Darren Clarke registered 73s.
“I just made a few mistakes going out, or didn’t quite get the breaks going out, so maybe left three or four shots on the course for the first 11 holes, but certainly the last seven holes I made up for it with a couple of good saves,” said Harrington.
Near flawless
Dustin Johnson’s round was near flawless. The American went out in 31 and home in 34 in a round which featured five birdies and an eagle and not a single dropped shot. The eagle came on the par five fifth, where he launched a huge drive and hit a seven-iron approach to ten feet and rolled in the putt.
He capped off that front nine blitz by driving to the front of the green on the Par 4 352 yards ninth and two-putting for a birdie.
On the way home, his only worry came on the 17th, the toughest hole statistically, where he drove into rough. Johnson needed to hole a 15 footer for par there, and he did, to keep a clean card.
“I expect to play well in every event I play in,” said Johnson, who claimed not to have thought for too long about what happened on the 72nd green at Chambers Bay. “I couldn’t control what the ball was doing on the greens there,” he said.
Johnson may have his sights set on a maiden Major but Spieth, for one, looks determined to take up the challenge.
