Scottish Open :: Neeps & Tatties :: Day 1

A generous portion of tasty
morsels direct from Royal Aberdeen

Rory McIlroy drove the green at the 436-yard 13th. That’s right: 436 yards. Four. Three. Six. The group ahead was still on the green at the time and included Rory’s Ryder Cup team-mate Ian Poulter. “I told him it was a 3-wood,” joked McIlroy.

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Last week, David Howell became the second youngest man to rack up 500 events on the European Tour. He’s now just 206 events short of Sam Torrance’s record – and he’s got it firmly in his sights. “I saw him, actually, and said exactly that,” laughed the Alfred Dunhill Links champion. “He said, ‘I’m coming back if you do!’”

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Argentinean Ricardo Gonzalez put himself right in the mix to win this week after opening with an excellent six-under-par 65, little over 12 hours on from his national football team’s World Cup semi-final win over Holland. With the final on Sunday, it’s safe to say the 44-year-old is dreaming of a double celebration this weekend. “It’s amazing. It’s my dream,” he said. “I would like Argentina to win the World Cup, and also if you can win here, it’s altogether.”

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Scottish crowds are renowned for being knowledgeable. Which is just a nice way of saying that we’re not easily impressed. We don’t give praise out lightly. You’ve got to really go some to impress us, as was evident during the first round of the Scottish Open.  A group of around 100 spectators surrounded the par-3 17th late in the afternoon. The first player to hit in the first group I watched bounced it up to five feet. Cue generous applause. The next player’s ball finished up little more than two feet outside that. Barely a single clap. Talk about a tough audience.

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Overheard outside the ropes: “Aye, binning that Sharapova looks to have paid off .” Right sport, wrong woman.

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A total of 11,532 people came through the gates during the first round. That’s almost 1,000 more than last year at Castle Stuart. The number to beat for the week is 65,528. The current total this year is 18,969. Three big days coming up…

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Nerd alert: the fairways at Royal Aberdeen have been cut to 8mm; the greens are 3.5mm. Because we can tell you were all desperate to know that.

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A little bit of Phil being Phil for you…

Here’s what the man himself had to say about it: “I hit a 64-degree wedge because it has less bounce so I could get the leading edge under the ball. But I had to hit it pretty hard because it was a 98-yard shot, so it hit the green and checked nicely.”

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What could possibly be so bright and so garish that Miguel Angel Jimenez needed to shelter his eyes and wear sunglasses to protect them from it?

Ah, of course…

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).

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor