Golf, Open Championship at the start. Molinari: “Good feelings”

Ready go. At 6.35am this morning Scot Paul Lawrie threw the first shot of the eagerly awaited 150th edition of the Open Championship at the foot of the austere St. Andrews clubhouse, guardian of the history and rules of golf.

Among the first starts (considering that the last team faced hole one only at 16.16) the two blue professionals in the race, Guido Migliozzi and Francesco Molinari. Both have delivered a score of 73 hits, one above par. Two bogeys and a birdie for the 25-year-old from Vicenza accompanied by the new coach Federico Bisazza. A very subdued first part of the season, but signs of recovery in the last period with a top ten in the Dutch Open and a 14th place in the US Open (where he finished fourth last year). “I played well today, but I missed the putt, I didn’t find the right speed on the greens,” he said. Same problem for Francesco Molinari (also for him a birdie in the first and two bogeys in the second), a putt pocketed to recover the par and many missed ones for a qualitative leap. “From a distance I have often left too long a comeback and paid off. Instead, I am satisfied with the way I touched the ball from a distance,” he said. Nice drives and irons to look for the rods (“except a badly hit wedge at 16 which cost me a blow”). A rapprochement with his lifelong coach, Dennis Pugh, who returned to his side in St. Andrews, contributed to the rediscovered “good feelings”. Having taken up residence in Los Angeles had forced a team change. And the back is back in place too.

For the two Italians, the first round ends with a low ranking position. The third blue player, the amateur Filippo Celli (74 his score, “with some unfortunate rebounds”), started in the afternoon, who in a month tried the Old Course (playing the St. Andrews Links Trophy) and then he won the Amateur Championship on another links (that of El Saler in Spain), which catapulted him into the midst of the greats of the oldest major. Twenty-one years old, from Rome, one meter and ninety of talent, passion and conviction, a player who attacks and who finds the best ideas under pressure. Of the links he said, “They are intriguing and fun, with distances at the mercy of the wind and unpredictable rebounds. It’s another golf.” Indeed. In St. Andrews these days the ball runs for miles, with the wind behind and the fairways harder than usual. Difficult to manage, easier to take the fearsome bunkers where a shot is almost always lost. In the meantime, however, at the top of the leaderboard there is the person who played in the morning, in better conditions. The leader is American, Cameron Young. Eight birdies in his score for a final 64 (-8). Not bad for an Open debut. He is 25 years old, was born in Scarborough (New York) and is the son of a professional. “I don’t think I played a perfect lap, but rather that I dealt with situations in the right way, taking home the score”, his comment. “Being up front doesn’t put pressure on me, I’ll sleep well; we’ll see tomorrow, but I’m in control of the situation.” Considering that this season (his first in the PGA Tour, won after winning two consecutive races in the minor division) he has fielded three places of honor and two third places (PGA Championship included), he seems confident enough. . Behind two lengths Rory McIlroy, who immediately started to attack: his score 66 (-6). Followed by the Australian Cameron Smith (67) and then a large group of 68: there are among others Barclay Brown (English amateur player), Kurt Kitayama, Lee Westwood, Brad Kennedy, Victor Hovland, Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson, the number one world championship Scottie Sheffler, Sahith Theegala, Robert Dinwiddie.

Long and difficult day for Tiger Woods (who suffered two shots at hole one), at his last Open played in St. Andrews (the next one will be in fact in five years). A prediction on the winning score? Francesco Molinari does it: “With the wind of the past two days I would say ten shots below par, a number that doubles if the conditions are the most docile of this morning”.