2024 Open Championship: Day 1
Posted on July 18, 2024
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b>Thursday at The Open
See your TEAM's majorpunter score.
The conditions at Royal Troon were brutal, literally frozen rope cold with a stiff wind off the Firth of Clyde. It was tough going all day.
The course looked green, was soft in patches with some big bounces out there too. Anything in the 60s was spectacular.
It seemed like the morning field had the tougher conditions and certainly Rory, Bryson & Aberg would agree with that, with all shooting big numbers. However, some good numbers were also posted early with some great play from JT & JRose who posted scores in the 60s early.
It took a while for someone to match the 3 under score, until Lowry matched it with birdie on the Postage Stamp 8th, before little known Dan Brown matched it going down the back 9. Closing birdies saw Lowry & Brown both post clubhouse leads of 66 and 65, who both posted bogey free rounds despite challenging conditions on their front 9.
JT had a great start for a seriously tough stretch, 68 in the hardest time will put a smile on his face. He has struggled this year and it will be a big test to stay in contention.
Overall, anything under par is in the top 15, which you would expect in The Open. Its likely to remain brutal throughout the day on Friday.
Anyone at Even par or better is within 6 shots of the lead. You can’t see any winners coming from outside of that.
Shot of the Day
There were a few eagles, especially on the par 5 16th hole. The hole-out on the 1st by amateur Jaime Montojo was sensational.
Round of the Day
A bogey free round by Dan Brown in his 1st major round would be enough, but with 6 birdies, puts him top of the tree headed into Friday.
Performance of the Day
Tough to call between Brown & Lowry such was their proficiency throughout. JRose was also superb with plenty pars and just 2 birdies in his 69.
The Leaders
The Chasers
majorpunter Picks
Top Bucket:
Rory dominated the picks, which was a surprise coming off Pinehurst, though he saw himself as bouncing back. He never delivered, not even close but so many didn’t either. Scottie saved it to 18 and made a strong finish to keep himself in the mix.
2nd Bucket:
Tommy was the fan’s favourite here and why not, he has a great record at The Open and in majors in general, but he was miles off on Thursday at Troon.
3rd Bucket:
Big backing for Lowry and clear some wise punters at that. What a round from the 2019 champion! Less can be said for Cambo who finished miles back.
Bottom Bucket:
BK turned out to be a solid pick and enjoyed a birdie stretch mid round that launched him into the leaderboard.
Stats:
Bucket 1: Rory 32%, Scottie 22%, Aberg 18%, Collin 12% (1 is under par)
Bucket 2: Tommy 39%, The Hov 17%, Rai 15%, Im 10% (None are under par)
Bucket 3: Lowry 15%, Cambo 12%, Scotty 12%, Louis 12% (2 are under par)
Bucket 4: BK 17%, Bob Mac 15%, Max 7%, Sepp 7% (2 are under par!)
Some very bad picking with some numbers across the board.
For a full view of the scores head to Open Championship Leaderboard and majorpunter leaderboard.
majorpunter Leaderboard:
| Rank | Team | Punter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomoose & Friends | Kath East | -9 |
| T2 | Fear the Ear 2 | Daniel Haas | -8 |
| T2 | WhyNot | John Orr | -8 |
| T2 | Doyle’s Open Team | David Dampier | -8 |
| T5 | Yankee team | Barry Adams | -7 |
| T5 | DegenParty | Haden Smith | -7 |
| T7 | 9th green at 9 | Chris Pfeiffer | -6 |
| T7 | DegenParty3 | Haden Smith | -6 |
| T7 | Dungeons | Duncan MacLarty | -6 |
| T7 | RLW-4 | Luke West | -6 |
Day 1 is all about keeping yourself in it and not getting too excited in the chase for your first major. It was a tough day for the punters, just demonstrated by the lack of success from the buckets. For a full view of the scores head to LEADERBOARD.
Tomoose & Friends lead by just 1 shot over WhyNot, Doyle’s Open Team & Fear the Ear 2.
Still a long way to go and it’s a very tight leaderboard so anything can happen on Friday on a tricky golf course.
majorpunter Bottomboard:
| Rank | Team | Punter | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | PokeyAU4 | Preston Barnes | +12 |
| T74 | RLW-3 | Luke West | +13 |
| T74 | PokeyAU1 | Preston Barnes | +13 |
| T74 | Creamy Goodness | Justin Hodgson | +13 |
| T74 | Bradthig3 | Bradley Thigpen | +13 |
| 78 | Tel-el-kebir | Nick Jay | +14 |
| 79 | blokkies | Ross Harris | +16 |
| 80 | Little General | Graeme East | +17 |
| 81 | Finnornimus | David Finnorn | +18 |
| 82 | Bradthig2 | Bradley Thigpen | +19 |
The bottomboard is messy, showing how tough Troon played on day 1.
Bradthing2 sits entrenched at the bottom with 19 over, just 1 shot worse than Finnornimus, in what was a tough day.
It’s a long road to go and this course will grow some serious teeth, there is still a lot of unknown. With major champions in your team, we know they can flip the switch and turn it around.
For more news and information head over to majorpunter.
Looking forward to a Friday with so much in anticipation.