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

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)