Sadly, Montgomerie is out before he even got really started.
An injury to his wrist BEFORE ever teeing off, forced him to retire after 7 holes.
Azinger is out after 10 holes, having had a run of bogey, bogey, dbl bogey, dbl bogey on the last 4 holes he played.
Jerry Kelly - who started the Open in the worst possible way, with a SEVEN-doubled bogey - has elected to retire after round 1.
And stupid, temperamented Thomas Bjorn caught an 8 on 17, when he failed to lift a bunkershot out of the trap, and in irritation hit his wedge into the sand, thus incurring a 2-stroke penalty for grounding in a bunker. How's that for 2 dumb ones to put on your scorecard ?!
The Big Easy is at +7 after 18, Tiger had to struggle to get back with a +2. The Open is most definately ON.
And I have to tip my hat - no, remove it completely and wave it cheerfully in the air - in recognition of Norman. What a player. He might have had the "luck" of being out early, although it didn't seem to play all that much easier out there in the morning, as I'm sure many scorecards will show.
And Otto was first in the clubhouse, and has stayed the clubhouse leader all day. Pretty amazing.
What a great little game.
