A crucial attribute of hyperlinks golf solely comes with age.
Expertise is at all times wanted, particularly at a seaside course like Royal Troon, the place the wind hallows off the ocean and seemingly pushes each shot in direction of one of many 99 pot bunkers that line these fairways and greens. Avoiding these is paramount, however understanding what shot to hit—and the way to management your golf ball within the wind is a ability that takes years to grasp.
Each 44-year-old Adam Scott and 43-year-old Justin Rose have carried out so, as they’ve mixed to play in 43 Open Championships. Scott’s finest end result got here at Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s in 2012, when he bogeyed the ultimate 4 holes to complete one stroke behind Ernie Els. Rose, in the meantime, tied for second at Carnoustie in 2018 when Francesco Molinari gained. Each are nonetheless trying to find their first Claret Jug, however they’ve given themselves a wonderful alternative to contend for golf’s oldest main this week after spherical one.
Rose carded a powerful 2-under 69 that featured zero bogies—a testomony to how good of a hyperlinks participant he’s. He trails Justin Thomas by one.
“Joyful to maintain it clear on the market. Bogey-free might be the factor I’m happiest about,” Rose stated.
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“I felt like I had a very good deal with on the course. I felt like I knew the place the course was enjoying robust, the place the alternatives had been, and yeah, I stayed targeted sufficient to hit a whole lot of good photographs at the moment.”
Scott completed one stroke behind the Englishman, posting a 1-under 70 to maintain his momentum intact from final week’s Genesis Scottish Open, the place he completed runner-up to Robert MacIntyre.
“It was fairly stable,” Scott assessed.
“I feel the wind change made the again 9 play robust though it was downwind. I hadn’t performed in that wind and made some errors, nevertheless it was a reasonably uneventful day. I performed stable and am fairly completely happy to start out below par.”
Scott made three birdies to 2 bogies, certainly one of which got here on the par-5 sixteenth, the place he drove it into the burn. He misjudged the wind, and his drive didn’t cease earlier than reaching the tiny creek that treks throughout the third and sixteenth holes.
However Rose had the extra spectacular day, particularly contemplating that he needed to make it to this match through Remaining Qualifying. Rose tied for first at Burnham & Berrow, one of many 4 Remaining Qualifying websites that despatched 4 gamers to The Open. The Englishman shot rounds of 66 and 68 over 36 holes to e book his ticket to Troon, and due to that, he feels particularly grateful to play in The 152nd Open.
“I in all probability simply have a bit extra gratitude simply to be right here from that perspective. Twenty years probably-ish ballpark the place you make your schedule in December, and also you go, ‘Okay, Masters, Open, U.S. Open, PGA, how will we plan round that?’ And this yr it’s like, ‘Cling on a second, I’m not assured within the Open or the U.S. Open at this level,” Rose defined.
“I needed to perform a little bit of additional onerous work simply to verify I used to be right here. Clearly, it’s a particular occasion for me being a Brit. It’s the one I’ve dreamed about profitable ever since I used to be a child, so clearly, you’ve bought to be in it to win it. That was the primary a part of the jigsaw puzzle, to verify I certified.”
As one ages, making it to and enjoying in main championships turns into rather more troublesome. However Scott and Rose are off to terrific begins, and contemplating a pair of veterans took residence the Claret Jug the final two instances at Royal Troon—Todd Hamilton at 38 years previous in 2004 and Henrik Stenson at 40 years previous in 2016—Scott and Rose might definitely comply with of their footsteps.
They’ve the ability, the expertise, and the data to do it. Now, they want some luck to go their method.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
