The Open: Smith and Young off to stellar starts, Lowry recovers after early troubles

FLYING IT: USA's Cameron Young lines up a putt on the 3rd during day one of The Open at the Old Course, St Andrews. Photo: Jane Barlow/PA Wire. publishing

There were cheers and boos and lots of birdies on a cool and gray morning that greeted the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course.

Cameron Young caught fire early in his Open debut, going out in 31 and reached 8-under after birdies at 11, 12 and 18 to shoot 8-under 64 – leaving him three clear of Cam Smith’s 5-under 67 early Thursday. Two-time Open champion Ernie Els was 5-under through the loop.

“Absolutely. I think it was nice to get out there this morning,” said Smith. “It's a little bit fresh this morning, but there wasn't much wind around for the first three or four holes. And just nice to get off to a good start. Couple of birdies in the first five there and really set the tone for the day.

“Hit lots of good lag putts today. It was probably some of the best lag putting I think I've ever done. My putt on the second managed to go in from a fair distance. That was pretty decent. But had so many, seemed like I had so many 80, 90, 100-footers out there today, and did a good job of getting them down in two.” English amateur Barclay Brown and American Kurt Kitayama shot 4-under 68s.

Ian Poulter, the longtime European Ryder Cup darling, was booed on the first tee and responded by nearly hooking his tee shot out-of-bounds left near the Links Road. He recovered well enough to save par at the first, drain a 160-foot putt for eagle on 9 and eventually post a 3-under 69.

“Didn't hear one,” Poulter insisted. “I actually thought I had a great reception on the first tee, to be honest. All I heard was clapping.” 

Rory McIlroy drained a 50-footer on the first for birdie but really kicked into gear with a birdie-birdie-birdie run from 5-7 before cooling off.

Shane Lowry got off to a poor start after finding the gorse right of the second fairway and compounding the misfortune with a three-putt to absorb an early double. After another bogey at 4, he fought his way back to level par with birdies at 5, 9 and 10.

Power also got in trouble on the second and made bogey but got into red figures after consecutive birdies at 9 and 10. But his momentum derailed with a double on the 12th when his drive found an awkward spot in a pot bunker. He settled for a 1-over 73 after a bogey-birdie combo at the finish.

“There’s five or six shots out there where if you hit it well you can might five or six easy birdies and I didn’t today,” Power said. “One-over would have to be the worst I can shoot all week to have a chance to get back in the mix.” LIV Golf representatives got off to a much better start than they did at the U.S. Open, with Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau both shooting 3-under and Lee Westwood reaching 3-under through 14 holes.

With fairways running hard and fast ands the winds down, players were having drivers run out more than 400 yards on some holes and approaches would roll out 100 feet from the pins in some places. Power hit 2-iron past the pin on 18 to set up a birdie.