Els ace highlights early first-round action
Ernie Els' hole-in-one on the famed postage stamp 8th hole highlighted early first-round play.
Updated: July 15, 2004, 7:58 AM ET
Associated Press
TROON, Scotland -- The world's best players came to Royal Troon knowing the front nine was there for the taking in the British Open. It didn't take long Thursday to prove them right.
Birdies were plentiful, eagles were available and a rare double eagle was made by Gary Evans in the opening round on a front nine playing even easier than imagined on a calm coastal morning.
Ernie Els joined the fun with a hole-in-one on the famed Postage Stamp hole. Els hit a wedge that took three bounces on the 123-yard eighth hole, then backed up into the hole as he grinned with delight and the Scottish spectators roared their approval.
Els was tied for the lead at 4 under before he needed two shots to get out of a deep-faced bunker on the 17th hole and made double bogey. He finished with a 2-under 69.
The early leaders in the clubhouse included Evans, who birdied the last hole for a 3-under 68. Also at 68 were K.J. Choi and Carl Pettersson. Four players, including Els and former PGA champion Rich Beem, were at 69.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson wasn't faring as well, with two bogeys on the back nine leaving him at 2 over through 14 holes. Tiger Woods and defending champion Ben Curtiswere late starters, as was U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen.
With Beem leading the way, the early starters took dead aim at the pins on a morning when the wind off the Firth of Clyde was unusually quiet.
Beem eagled the sixth hole on his way to a 5-under 31 on the front nine, but found the going tougher when he headed into the breeze on the back nine and shot 38.
Players had expected the front nine to play easier, mostly because it almost always plays downwind. The second nine on the links course returns directly into the prevailing wind, forcing players to hang on to try and protect their scores.
Unlike the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, where players criticized the course conditions as too severe, Royal Troon offered nothing but the weather and its usual collection of deep bunkers and heather to protect par.
With the winds light in the morning and half the 156-player field out on the course, 28 players were under par.
Evans of England, best known for losing a ball on the 17th at Muirfield to wreck his Open chances, made a double eagle on the par-5 fourth by holing a 5-iron from the fairway 227 yards away. It was the first double eagle in the British Open since Greg Owen on the 11th hole at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2001.
"When I brought one in, it was fantastic,'' Evans said. "Happy days.''
On the other end of the spectrum was Tom Weiskopf, the '73 Open champion at Royal Troon playing in his first major since the 1995 British Open. The 61-year-old Weiskopf took a quadruple-bogey 8 on the easy opening hole and shot 45 on the front nine before rebounding with a 35 on the back for an 80.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press
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