Mark Calcavecchia was in the first group out at 6.30 this morning, and he was the first clubhouse leader, coming home with a 3-under par 67. That set the trend for another former Open Champion, Mark O’Meara, who also found Turnberry’s unusually benign day to his liking to match the 3-under score.
It was exactly 20 years ago that Calcavecchia won his Open title, and it’s unlikely he had a more comfortable round then than today’s. Strong winds, cold and rain are frequent enemies at Turnberry — but this morning dawned bright, warm and windless.
Those weather conditions were exactly as they had been on Wednesday, and exactly what Calcavecchia had hoped for. He said: “I looked out of the window at 5am and prayed that today would be as good as yesterday had been at 6.30 in the morning — and it was. The weather was perfect.”
Calcavecchia agreed that if ever there was a time to play the Ailsa Course then this was it. He added: “I hate to say Turnberry was easy, because it’s a really hard course, but if ever you’re going to shoot a good score out there today was the day to do it.”
Despite the superb later-day performance of 59-year-old Tom Watson, coming home in 65, Calcavecchia, at 49, does not believe he still has the chance to win an Open.
He admitted: “My thoughts of winning have pretty much gone out of the window. My back’s an issue now — we had to play 36 holes on Sunday in the John Deere Classic, and I was pretty much in full-blown spasm for the entire second 18. That hurt.
“If it had been any other tournament I probably would not have come. But I took Monday off, played Tuesday and took yesterday off, so I felt good and rested. It’s just the first round, and there’s a long way to go, but I’m here — and I’m here because I love the tournament.”
Mark O’Meara’s round of 67 was his lowest score in any of the 25 Opens he has played. He said: “I’m very pleased with that. Certainly we caught Turnberry on a very benign day, but it’s still very demanding.
“I drove the ball well today and kept it in the short grass, away from the long stuff. But I’m sure the wind will come up before the weekend’s through and it will become the Turnberry everyone’s accustomed to.”
But that won’t worry him — like all the former champions in the field, he’s delighted to be in there still mixing it with the young guns.
He added: “Experience counts for a lot on links courses. For me this is the greatest championship. You can play a lot of different shots — it’s very enjoyable. Calcavecchia is up on the board, and so is Tom Watson at almost 60.
“These guys can really play. The juices get flowing — we love this championship dearly. I still love to compete — there’s a little bit of fire still in there somewhere.”
