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Off the Mark Defending champ O'Meara shoots 83 in first round
Posted: Thursday July 15, 1999 03:37 PM
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (AP) -- The last time Mark O'Meara walked off the 18th green in the British Open he was holding the claret jug. On Thursday at Carnoustie Golf Links, he left in a state of shock. It's not very often that a defending champion has to sign for an 83. It was no surprise that O'Meara walked briskly past reporters and took a few minutes to compose himself. "Your pride is hurt a bit when you shoot in the 80s," he said. "I mean, I'm a professional." Carnoustie had a way of making everyone look like amateurs in the first round. In the case of O'Meara, it made a champion feel like a chump. Fierce winds off the Firth of Tay proved to be a lethal addition to a course reputed as the toughest in championship golf. O'Meara was not the only player who had a round in the 80s, nor was his the worst score of those who figured to put up a fight. "I'm disappointed that I shot 83, but I tried on every shot," he said. "Tomorrow, all I can do is try to play a bit better and restore some of my pride." O'Meara, who had to return the claret jug to the Royal & Ancient when he arrived in Carnoustie, showed quickly that he had no intention of taking it back home with him. After a nice par save on the opening hole, O'Meara was even more wild off the tee than Seve Ballesteros, the three-time Open champion who played in the same threesome. Aside from putting, O'Meara didn't play a shot from the fairway until the third hole -- and that was after taking a drop out of Jockie's Burn. The exasperation began to show on No. 6, a 578-yard hole that played closer to 700 yards because of the prevailing wind. He hit his drive into the rough so thick on the right that he had no choice but to chop out. With a 9-iron, a gust knocked down the ball, which trickled into a pot bunker. He blasted out into more rough, then hit a terrific shot left of the green, about 100 feet from the hole. Two putts kept him from another double bogey, although there was still another one of those waiting for him. On No. 10, O'Meara again tried to play out of the rough only to have his ball roll into a burn, which resembles a nicely carved ditch only 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep. "Did that go in?" he yelled to a marshal? Disgusted, O'Meara dropped his head and then dropped another ball. When he hit up to the green, he smacked his iron against the side of the bridge. He finished a round to forget with a triple bogey on No. 17 and his lone birdie on No. 18. "I made three double bogeys and a triple so it was pretty much those four holes that hurt me most," O'Meara said. "But I drove the ball pretty bad and felt I got the score I deserved." If O'Meara wanted to put a good spin on his round, he could have taken consolation in the fact his 83 was not the worst opening score by a defending champion -- Willie Park had a 94 in the 1876 British Open. He finished third that year. And here's more good news. A defending champion once had an 83 in the first round of the British Open and still managed to win. Of course, the Open was only 36 holes when Bob Ferguson pulled that off in 1882. And it should be noted that Ferguson's 83 was good enough for a three-stroke lead. At Carnoustie 117 years later, a score like that made a champion feel like a chump.
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