Flipped wind flips script on Round 1 at The British Open Championship

TROON, Scotland – Few had seen Royal Troon’s easier front nine playing into the teeth of the wind, the way it did for the first round of The 152nd Open Championship on Thursday.

Shane Lowry, on the other hand, knew what to expect and shot his lowest opening-round score in 46 major appearances.

“Fortunately enough, I came here two weeks ago and I played this wind on the second day that I played here,” said Lowry, the 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year, who made five birdies and no bogeys to card a 5-under 66. “I saw this golf course in every wind you can play it, and I guess that was a good thing to do.

“It’s out there paying off a little bit today,” he added.

By the time Lowry stiffed his approach to 5 feet and buried the birdie putt on 18, the worst of the wind had subsided. It was so benign, in fact, that England’s Dan Brown, a first-time winner on the DP World Tour this year who was playing in the day’s second-to-last group, birdied two of the last three holes to card a 6-under 65 and seize the solo lead.

Others from the late wave who played well included PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele (69), Mackenzie Hughes (69), 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (70) and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka (70).

“Gorgeous, i’n’t it?” a security guard said. “What a night.”

Indeed, the man walking his jacketed dog on Troon Beach, the couple holding hands on an evening stroll, were threatened by neither flying sand nor evening bugs.

The tranquil night was in stark contrast to the earlier chaos. Instead of the wind being at players’ backs on the front nine, usually the easier of the two nines at Troon, it was howling off the right and largely in their faces to start the round.

The unexpected wind, combined with spells of rain, brought surprisingly high scores, a few of them calamitous.

Ludvig Åberg, the 54-hole leader at the Genesis Scottish Open last week, shot 4-over 75. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau needed to eagle 16 to salvage a 76. Sahith Theegala got around in 77. Then there was Rory McIlroy’s 78.

“The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven't seen so far this week,” McIlroy said after admittedly failing to adapt and making double bogeys at the “Postage Stamp” eighth and “Railway” 11th holes. His tee shots at Troon’s most famous holes rode the crosswind and wound up in a bunker and out of bounds, respectively.

Even those who played well were shaking their heads.

“It made me think all day because I haven't played that wind this week,” said Adam Scott, the runner-up at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, his best result this year. “And, really, I was picking clubs for the first time off every tee today. I hit very different clubs than I did in any practice rounds.”

Added defending champion Brian Harman (73), who gave back the claret jug earlier this week and bogeyed the first hole Thursday: “The back nine is hard, but the front nine into that wind, it's just brutal.”

Justin Thomas, who had the early wave’s best score, a 3-under 68, laughed at the dramatic shift.

“I just had not played that front nine into the wind before, and that was wild,” said Thomas, a 15-time PGA TOUR winner whose last victory was the 2022 PGA Championship.

At the 2016 Open at Troon, Thomas added, he tried to drive the par-4 first and third holes. On Thursday, though, that thought never crossed his mind. At least, he offered, the wind was consistent throughout his round.

The wind is expected to be the same Friday, but even the official forecast here often includes the words “low confidence.”

That describes many of the players themselves after their opening rounds.