July 18th 2013, Muirfield, Scotland: Former Masters Tournament champion Zach Johnson began The 142nd Open Championship in the same imperious style as he did the 141st.
The American carded a five under 66 to lead by one from Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello and 1998 champion Mark O'Meara, with 1996 winner Tom Lehman a shot behind alongside fellow Americans Dustin Johnson and Brandt Snedeker, Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez and India's Shiv Kapur. Kapur held the lead when he raced to the turn in 30, but dropped three shots on the back nine.
Shiv Kapur of India eclipsed some of golf’s biggest stars when he shot a three-under-par 68 for tied fourth in the opening round of The Open Championship on Thursday.
Kapur was the surprise package on day one when he birdied six of his opening seven holes to turn in 30 and briefly hold a one-shot lead at the demanding Muirfield course.
He birdied the immensely challenging first hole followed by birdies on two and three. He then continued his electrifying momentum by marking three straight birdies from the fifth hole.
He still held his head high despite three-putting for double bogey on 10 and dropped another shot on 14 when his tee shot found the thick rough.
The Indian, who has won once on the Asian Tour, trails first day leader Zach Johnson of the United States by two shots but outgunned world number one Tiger Woods (69) and Major champions Phil Mickelson (69), Bubba Watson (70), Adam Scott (71) and Rory McIlroy (79).
“I was in dreamland for a while when I birdied my first three holes. This is probably the fastest greens I’ve played in my life. It felt like I was putting on glass,” said Kapur, who qualified for the tournament at the Local Final Qualifying in Dunbar, two weeks ago.
“The front nine was a bit special. I was in a bit of a trance there. I wasn’t aware of my score. I tried to make every birdie putt that comes my way because I know how tough this golf course can be.
“Nobody is expecting me to be up there and it is a funny name in the middle of proven Major winners but it is nice to be up there. At least I can hold my head high and say that I led at one point at The Open Championship. That’s something I can take a lot of pride in,” he added.
The 31-year-old took advantage of his late tee time to watch the early coverage of the tournament to get an idea of how to negotiate his way around the course.
“I watched a bit of the coverage this morning and I saw the balls bouncing. So in some aspect it is good to watch and know. You can learn a bit with a late start.
“I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m going to go out there to fulfil my own expectations and my own goals. You go out there to play quietly. In fact, my playing partner told me that he was expecting a quiet afternoon until the cameras started following us!”
World Number One Tiger Woods, seeking the 15th Major title of his career and a first since 2008, was ominously poised on two under, but US Open Champion Justin Rose's hopes of back-to-back Majors suffered a blow with a 75 and defending champion Ernie Els was only one shot better off.
Johnson, who opened with a 65 at Lytham 12 months ago and eventually finished ninth, stormed to the turn in 31 thanks to an eagle and three birdies and reached six under before his only bogey of the day on the 14th.
The 37 year old was beaten in a five-hole play-off by 19 year old Jordan Spieth at the John Deere Classic on Sunday and said: "I think this game demands resilience. If anything, what I've embraced from last week is the fact that I'm playing great and I can put that into play, and I'm certainly somewhat confident in what I'm doing, confident in my routines."
O’Meara, whose Open victory came at Royal Birkdale, will return to the venue next week to contest the Senior Open, when he hopes to be going for a unique double.
He said: "Do I think I can (win)? When I play like I did today, yeah, I think I can.
"I didn't feel like I was 56 years old out there, I felt like I was 32.
"I know I haven't won a lot in the last 10, 11 years of my career, but I've been close a lot.
"And I know that sometimes if you just keep getting close, sooner or later they're going to open the door."
Woods looked set for a long afternoon when he hooked his opening tee shot off a tree and into rough so deep that he played a provisional ball, but after the original was found he took a penalty drop and salvaged a bogey after finding a greenside bunker with his third.
Still one over at the turn, birdies at the tenth, 11th and 13th took him to two under par and a bogey on the 14th - where he putted from the front of the green off the back - was cancelled out by a two-putt birdie on the 17th.
Woods said: "It was tough. The golf course progressively got more dried out and more difficult as we played and I'm very pleased to shoot anything even par or better.”
