The Open 2013: Zach Johnson has early lead; Shiv Kapur emerges from the shadows

On a course that was fit to race a formula one car, Muirfield held a mirror to the limitations of technology and showered light on those with a fertile mind.

The course inside the hallowed gates of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is a pair of concentric circles – running clockwise first and then the other way. Zach Johnson took full advantage of playing in the first half, when it was relatively less quick, to post a 66 that secured the day for the American.

Zach Johnson

India’s Shiv Kapur had the outright lead and a country in thrall at six under through nine, before a double at the 10th dragged him back to a 68. Mark O’Meara turned back the clock to carve a mightily impressive 67 at the ripened age of 56. If the first day was an indicator, it will take patience and plenty of ideating from the eventual champion this year at Gullane in Scotland.

The sun-baked course was so fast, some felt you could putt from the fairway near the green. It was so firm, the ball raced past the flag with the enthusiasm of a driver winning for the first time in his career – leaving aghast golfers gasping in pain.

No one captured the pain better than Rory McIlroy, whose struggles were accentuated by the wickedly running ball around the punishing course. McIlroy finished the day feeling “brain dead” and with a blood-stained card that read 8 over 79. The young Irishman will need a shrink to cajole him back to life from that nightmare.

In stark contrast, Johnson, among the early starters, was living a dream start. Johnson made an eagle at the fifth and four other birdies to stand tall at six under through the 12th. The only blemish of an outstanding first round came with a bogey at the 14th. Johnson made par at each of the final four holes to ensure there was no further damage. The American isn’t entirely new to first round glory – he had a 65 at the Open in Lytham last year where he eventually tied for ninth.

Two unlikely men are staring down Johnson’s heels – Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello and the 1998 Open winner Mark O’Meara. And they straddled different ends of the age spectrum. The 29-year-old Spaniard from Las Palmas earned his stripes when he won the Dubai Desert Classic last year. The sunny conditions suited the man from the Mediterranean, who made six birdies and two bogeys to rub shoulders with the American veteran.

O’Meara’s final success on the tour came at this very tournament 15 years ago. Inspired by the second spring of men like Bubba Watson and Greg Norman, who contended for the Open in the recent past, the Texan made a run for it on the front nine. The man who won the Masters and the Open, all in 1998, made five birdies on the front nine before slipping badly with bogeys at the 10th, 14th and 15th. But just when it seemed that his round might be dissolving in the Sun, O’Meara pulled off a magical eagle at the 17th to recover to a brilliant 67.

The worst round of Tiger Woods‘s career came at Muirfield in 2002, when he made 81 in the gloom of rain and the gravity of monster winds. At the first hole, Tiger made an equally ominous start. The tee shot bounced off a tree to end up in the thick rough to the far left off the fairway and memories of that day came gusting forth.

Tiger Woods

But the 14 time major champion recovered from that drop to soar right back into the thick of things with four birdies on the home stretch to sound out the Tiger bugle to the field. At the end of a fabulous round of golf, the only thing that seemed ominous was his immaculate putting form.

At 49, Miguel Angel Jiminez isn’t a spring chicken. But the Spaniard who broke his leg last winter while skiing, played as if he had a couple of springs in those weary legs. Jiminez, just as O”Meara, had five birdies on the front nine. But for a couple of bogeys on the home stretch, he would have enjoyed his evening drink with a share of the lead.

As things stand, he is in a group of four men that included Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker, Tom Lehman and Shiv Kapur – all of them at 3 under and two off the pace.

Shiv Kapur

31-year-old Shiv Kapur got off to a rousing start – a par at the fourth was neatly sandwiched between a hat-trick of birdies on either side as he joined Zach in the lead at six under through just seven holes. As he realised the course he was charting, Kapur became circumspect, and the weight bore him down – a double bogey at the 10th and a bogey at the 14th dragged him back but only just.

Kapur is lying fourth in that group of five men at the end of a memorable first day at the Open.

But do not let their tall scores fool you into a stupor; the course claimed more than its fair share of victims. Only 26 of the 156 men finished under par on a day when the course demanded intelligence and intuition from the caravan of golfers comforted mostly by the advances of technology.

Scores:

-5 Z Johnson (US)-4 Cabrera-Bello (Spa), O’Meara (US)-3 Jimenez (Spa), D Johnson (US), Snedeker (US), Lehman (US), Kapur (Ind)-2 Hamilton (US), Mickelson (US), Cabrera (Arg), Speith (US), Woods (US), F Molinari (Ita)

Select Others:

Par Scott (Aus)+3 Els (SA)+8 McIlroy (NI)