Gagan surveys Turnberry with caddie Andrew Dearden
The sun shone nice and bright on Turnberry. No wonder it seemed like the recording from that 1977 Sunday was running on television. Tom Watson has provided the first day of the 2009 British Open a blockbuster script, but Gaganjeet Bhullar's opening-day show won't be only a footnote. Not when the name Tiger Woods will be entered in the same rung on the scoreboard. That's obviously not a fair enough reason to applaud Gagan though after his first competitive outing at Turnberry. And we found a better.
Gagan finished one-over 71, tied for the 68th spot. Not a fairytale beginning, but commendable considering the nervy beginning and a mid-round slump. Gagan's birdie lip-out on the first hole was followed, quite disastrously, by a triple after he overhit his putt on the par-four second and struggled to hole out despite having been on the green in three. He followed that up with a bogey, but found heart to strike rhythm and three straight birdies starting from the seventh.
But just in case you thought the nerves were gone, he made another mistake, giving away a double on the 14th after messing up his tee shot and getting back to four-over. But lo and behold, the three-birdie stretch was back -- from the 15 to the 17th -- as he finished pretty strongly, rescuing himself from going too deep down on the scoresheet.
As he said later: "Maybe I was just trying too hard. But ultimately, I was proud of the way I fought.
“It’s a pretty decent finish considering my shaky start. But after overcoming that, I slowly recovered and never looked back."
It's a morning tee-off for the debutant on Friday, and this time we hope, it's the score that does the dipping.
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