McIlroy Ends Eventful Thursday on 67

Rory McIlroy kept his emotions in check after striking a spectator as he birdied two of the last three holes in an eventful three-under 67 on the first day of the Open Championship.

The 23-year-old made a steady start at Royal Lytham with six opening pars before he birdied seven and eight to turn in 32 before beginning the inward half with a bogey.

But he birdied the next two before pushing his drive at the 15th, his ball cannoning off the head of a young fan and finishing out of bounds to cost the Northern Irishman a double-bogey.

However, McIlroy drove the 16th green and two-putted for birdie, and he converted a sublime approach to five feet at the last to return to three under - three behind leader Adam Scott.

"I thought I did well to keep my composure and keep my concentration and finish the way I did. I'm very pleased with that," McIlroy said. "It's a great position heading into the second day.

"It was an eventful last four holes. Everything was going along pretty nicely standing on the 15th tee. I had a tee shot slightly right and I got an unfortunate break.

"If he could have headed it the other way at 15, it would have been in the fairway. The most important thing was that he was okay. I would have felt terrible if it had have been worse than what it was.

"But I liked how I reacted. I bogeyed 10 from the middle of the fairway with a wedge in my hand so that wasn't so good and reacting to that on 15 the way I did as well is very pleasing.

"I was very calm. My emotions were good out there and I didn't miss many fairways or greens. It was pretty much under control and I would rate my game pretty high at the moment."

Mickelson Proceeds Under Rule 28

During the first round of the 141st Open Championship, Phil Mickelson had to employ one of the most frequently used Rules in the game of golf. 

Playing the 8th hole, Mickelson found the deep bunker on the left of the fairway with his tee shot. His ball came to rest near the edge of the bunker, leaving him with a difficult shot over the steep bunker face.

Due to the angle of the shot, the ball failed to clear the long grass at the top of the bunker. After a short ball search to locate the ball, it was found buried deep in the rough. Mickelson decided to proceed under the unplayable ball Rule – Rule 28.

Under this Rule, the player has three options for relief, each incurring a penalty of one stroke. The player can choose to proceed under the stroke and distance option by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original was last played from (Rule 28a). 

In Mickelson’s case, this would have involved him dropping the ball back in the bunker and attempting the same shot again.

Alternatively, Mickelson could have dropped a ball within two club-lengths of where the ball lay but no nearer the hole (Rule 28c). For Mickelson, this option would have involved dropping the ball into further long grass, potentially leaving him with a similar difficult lie in the rough.

Instead, Mickelson decided to proceed under Rule 28b. 

This option permits the player to drop a ball behind the point where it lay, keeping that point between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far back the ball may be dropped. This decision afforded Mickelson the best outcome and allowed him to drop the ball behind the bunker and onto the fairway under penalty of one stroke.

Mickelson was not alone in utilising this Rule. 

In total, Rule 28 was used 9 times in Round 1 of the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Young Jason Sees Blue at Lytham

On Thursday afternoon a 16-year-old boy was hit on the head by an errant drive from the world's number two golfer, Rory McIlroy, at the Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Jason Blue, from Bristol, was taken to a first aid point just behind the 15th fairway, where he was standing when he was hit - after the Northern Irish star had come over to apologise and given him an autographed glove.

He was then moved to the main medical HQ at the course where he was seen by a doctor.

Jason was allowed to leave and sent home in a courtesy car after about 45 minutes, having been given something to eat and drink. He had a bruise on his head but no stitches and left the course without a bandage or dressing.

The incident cost McIlroy a double bogey on the 15th after his drive struck Jason, went 20 yards right and finished out of bounds by a few inches.

Jason said: "I can remember something hit me in the head and I fell over. I thought what the hell was that? What's hit me - it must be a golf ball. We couldn't see the tee because everyone down the side had umbrellas up and so we had no idea it was coming towards us even though they'd put their hands out on the tee. I closed my eyes with the shock of it as I tried to work out what had happened but I wasn't out cold and then there was people crowding around me.

"Rory came over and said 'Sorry, are you okay. I don't think this will help much but here you are' (giving him a signed glove). He was quite apologetic. I don't imagine he will be too happy with the fact I knocked it out of bounds - I'll apologise if I see him again. It's the first time I've seen Rory live in a tournament. We're camping at St Annes Cricket Club. I think we'll stay on for the rest of the week.

"My parents saw it on the TV. It took me a while to call them and tell them I was okay. They have tickets for the weekend so they are coming up tomorrow. The doctor has told me to take it easy for the next few days so we'll just go back and relax tonight. I still want Rory to do well and I'll probably go out and watch him tomorrow."

Ross Furnival, 17, was standing next to his friend at the time and feared the worst. "There was blood coming out of his head. I thought he was dead," he said.

McIlroy said: "I hit it slightly right and got an unfortunate break. It went 20 yards right off his head. He could have headed it the other way! The most important thing was that he was okay."

No Dream Lytham Return for Hoey

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With the focus firmly on Northern Ireland’s Major champions, Michael Hoey had been able to savour his first Open experience as a professional out of the limelight, eleven years after first playing the Open at Royal Lytham - after winning the British Amateur championship at Prestwick.

As a proven winner on the European Tour he was looking  forward to the week saying a few dasy ago: “I cant wait to get started and I have a great draw,” said Michael who tees off this morning at 7.25 in the company of former Open champ, John Daly and Chad Campbell.

“Daly is a legend and is bound to have a big crowd following him and both of them play quickly so there will be no messing around.”

But it was not to be on Thursday with the Belfast golfer signing for a nine over par 79, and finishing three strokes adrift of Darren Clarke, and four behind amateur Alan Dunbar.

A few weeks ago Hoey finished tied for 28th at Royal Portrush, at the Irish Open, and was optimistic that the huge crowds that flocked to the North Coast venue had helped prepare him for the vast crowds that are expected at Royal Lytham.

Although conditions he had commented this week were not perfect

“The weather has not been so good here and I think that has kept the numbers down a bit. Practice has gone well. I played 18 on Tuesday and then I just walked the course today. It gave me a chance to have a real close look at the bunkers and how things might play if the wind direction changes.

“The course is playing a lot longer than in 2001 because it is so wet. The ball is not running so much and they have also lengthened some of the holes. It means you simply have to hit driver a lot of the time and you have to find the fairway. The bunkers are so severe and the rough is lush and wet.

“However, although players have talked about it being tough, the fairways are generous and the greens are fantastic. You can be aggressive and hole a few putts.”

Hoey was always unlikely to feature in any pre-tournament lists of Open favourites despite his win this season in Morocco last March.

McDowell Maps Open Route 67

Graeme McDowell insisted enjoyment was the key to contending in majors after putting himself in contention at the Open Championship with a three-under 67.

The 2010 US Open champion surged up the first-day leaderboard with three straight birdies completing a front-nine 31 before he added another at the 11th.

A bogey at 15 was balanced by a birdie at the next, but he slipped three shots behind early pace-setter Adam Scott when he dropped another stroke at the last to take some gloss off his day.

"I've played in plenty of these things to learn that you've got to enjoy them, you've got to try to enjoy them," said the 32-year-old. "Let's be honest, if you don't play well, it's hard to enjoy them.

"You've got to get in a relaxed frame of mind, get your attitude correct for the day and accept that you're going to make mistakes.

"I did that well today and I reacted well to my mistakes generally - that's all you can ask for.

"It was a pretty benign start to the week but I'm under no illusion that this golf course has teeth and it could be a sleeping giant for sure.

"I've got a little bit of work to do on my full swing, I wasn't really 100 per cent in control of it today, but we'll be ready for Friday. There's no reason why I shouldn't challenge.

"All in all, I'm happy with three under par. It was a solid round of golf."

Darren Disgusted with Open Defence

Darren Clarke reflected on a "bad day at the office" after beginning the defence of his Open Championship title with a six-over 76.

The Northern Irishman failed to take advantage of the calm and dry early conditions at Royal Lytham, littering his card with seven bogeys before declaring he was "basically disgusted with myself".

After turning in 37, Clarke picked up his lone birdie at the 10th only to give it straight back at 11 before leaking three shots in a row from the 14th.

"I don't think you could publish my thoughts right now," said Clarke, who has made the cut in only one event this season.

"It's The Open - the biggest and best championship in the world - and the course is so benign, but I couldn't save or gain any momentum. It was a bad day at the office.

"The crowds were great and showed their support, but unfortunately I couldn't reciprocate."

And when asked if he had thought about his exploits at Sandwich 12 months ago, he added: 

"Yeah, coming up the last - how the beep did I manage to win this?"

Fans Make Lytham Pilgrimage for Seve

Ross Marshall and Paul Simmonds, along with Gemma Brindley and Elliott Milnes, have just raised at least £35,000 for the Seve Ballesteros Foundation by walking 300 miles from London to Royal Lytham in just seven days. 

Each walker not only covered between 40 and 45 miles a day, but did so while carrying a full set of clubs every step of the way.

Simmonds, 43, who works as a starter at Stoke Park, was the one who first came up with the idea. He likes to raise money for all kinds of charities by devising ever more ingenious endurance tests, and had just completed 100 holes in one day in aid of Help For Heroes when he formulated his latest wheeze. 

Word of the idea reached Ross, 31, via Cancer Research UK within whose aegis the Seve Ballesteros Foundation operates. Ross, co-founder of Europe’s largest golf holiday company YourGolfTravel.com, thought of moderating the route to take in various iconic golf courses which had particular meaning to Ballesteros’ career, and hitting a ball off the tee at each. He also decreed that the walk should last seven days, rather than the original 12 which Paul had planned.

“You have to make these things really gruelling to capture people’s imagination and so increase your fund-raising potential,” explains Ross. But it turned out that – even though Ross raised £12,000 for the Foundation by running the London Marathon this year – he “totally underestimated” the challenge.

“The bag is such an awkward size and shape to carry,” says Paul. “You hit lamp-posts all the time, not to mention people. And it’s seriously heavy – when the BBC reporter Sally Nugent tried to carry it this morning on television, she couldn’t manage ten metres.”

It will no doubt further amaze readers to know that the weather was less than superb throughout the walk.

“It was raining about 70 per cent of the time,” recalls Paul. “We would set off at 6am, stopping two or three times to stretch and eat, getting to bed around 10pm – but it was impossible to sleep because we were so wired. By the end of the walk, your shoulders are just on fire, and you don’t want to know about the state of my feet. They’re burning.”

The pair trudged triumphantly in to Lytham at 11.30am on Tuesday, and can now pour at least £35,000 into the Foundation’s coffers, to add to the £2.2 million raised since its inception in 2007. Moreover, they also have two sets of clubs signed by every star name in the 2012 Open field to auction off later in the year.

“Our aim was to raise awareness of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation which works with Cancer Research UK to fund research into brain cancer,” says Paul, adding: “In Britain alone, 9,300 are diagnosed with the condition every year.” It was of course brain cancer which cost Ballesteros his life in May last year at the age of 54. The walk also aimed to promote Seve Day, a pan-European golf tournament in aid of the Foundation run by YourGolfTravel, in which any golfer has the chance to participate. As Ballesteros won two of his three Open titles at Royal Lytham, in 1979 and 1988, the 2012 Open offered the perfect platform for celebration and commemoration.

For information on how to take part in Seve Day, and to donate to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation, go to seveday.com. 

To donate to Walk For Seve, go tohttp://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/WalkForSeve.

Royal Portrush Can Overcome - GMAC

Graeme McDowell believes the "minimal" shortcomings of Royal Portrush can be overcome in order for the course to stage the Open Championship.

A successful staging of this year's Irish Open was expected to boost hopes of the Open returning to the venue for the first time since 1951, but R&A chief executive Peter Dawson has played down the prospects of that happening, warning it would take some time before a view would be taken on adding Portrush to the nine-course Open rota.

But former US Open champion McDowell believes he and fellow Northern Irish major winners Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke need not give up hope just yet of playing an Open on home soil. McDowell said: "We know the current shortcomings of Royal Portrush, so I sort of expected Peter's answer, but they are minimal."

He added: "I always keep saying to the guys that we are going to Merion next year for the US Open and that's going to be basically an all-seater tournament.

"There is not going to be much room around the golf course, so there are ways around it. So if they want to go back to Royal Portrush badly enough, they will go back there.

"There are a lot of factors involved and I have a huge amount of respect for Peter Dawson as he's a fantastic leader in golf. I know he will make the correct decision."

Dawson admitted the enthusiasm of the spectators was a strong point in Portrush's favour, but added: "If you were at the Irish Open and compare it with what we're doing here, we're talking 20,000 grandstand seats, and there I doubt they had 2,000 at the Irish Open.

"You're talking about a tented village here I would estimate 10 or more times the size it was at the Irish Open. And the crowd size at the Irish Open, whilst it was very good, was only as good as perhaps the lowest crowd we expect at an Open venue, ie Turnberry.

"A huge amount of money would need to be spent, in my estimation, to make Royal Portrush a sensible choice.

"That's not a criticism of Royal Portrush; it's a wonderful golf course, but the commercial aspects of it are quite onerous."

Amateur Dunbar Calls on Mulrooney

Alan Dunbar – winner of the British Amateur championship last month – has called on veteran caddie John Mulrooney, who was on the bag for Darren Clarke at Sandwich a year ago, to guide him around the Lancashire links in his maiden Major.

“I have the defending champion’s bagman . . . he’s been great,” said Dunbar of Mulrooney, who had a short but sweet time on Clarke’s bag until the pair parted ways in January.

Mulrooney originally picked up Clarke’s bag last year in what seemed like a episode of Monty Python.

Mulooney, from Bray, went to a tournament in Mallorca expecting to act as caddie for David Howell who withdrew through injury. Then, he got the job on Martin Lafeber’s bag. But he, too, withdrew injured. 

In the meantime, Clarke’s intended bagman Ricky Roberts decided he wanted to attend Ernie Els’s induction into the Hall of Fame in Florida. So it was that Clarke and Mulrooney were paired up, a brief relationship that hit a high point in Sandwich.

This week at Royal Lytham & St. Anne's Dunbar is one of only two amateurs in the field – along with European champion Manuel Trappel of Austria – battling it out for the silver medal. 

“I am trying to play well and obviously I want to make the cut,” said Dunbar, who played a practice round with Clarke and Graeme McDowell yesterday.