Sandy Lyle is looking to stick around
Sandy Lyle still hopes to extend what is likely to be his final Open appearance into the weekend despite shooting a first-round 75 at Carnoustie.
The 1985 Shrewsbury-born champion was given the honour of playing the opening shot at the 147th Open – his 43rd appearance in the event.
But unless the 60-year-old can produce a near-miraculous top-10 finish, he will bid farewell to the tournament when his involvement this week ends.
“The first bunch of holes were good,” said the Scot, who also won the Masters in his 1980s heyday.
“I was very happy after nine holes at one under par and then I just got in a bit of bunker trouble, so I wasn’t happy with the back nine.
“It was a disappointing 75 but I’ve still got Friday to shoot a low score. A couple under – I might have a chance.”
Lyle’s round was tidy enough until finding a fairway bunker on the par-four 12th. He did manage to save par but there was no reprieve on the par-three 13th, where he needed three shots to escape from a greenside sand trap and took double bogey. Further dropped shots followed on the 17th and 18th.
He said: “I’ve always said this is a wearing golf course on the mental side of things. Is it an iron? Can I be aggressive? Can I hit a driver? If you guess well and it comes off it feels really good and at other times, you can curse yourself if you catch one of those bunkers you’ve forgotten about.
“The bunkers are obviously penal and I’ve been in a few of them. That kind of wore me out a bit.”
Lyle admitted he had hardly slept ahead of his 6.35am appointment at the first tee but was pleased to get the event off to a good start.
He said: “I think the opening tee shot went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I was nervous Wednesday night, never mind Thursday morning. I woke up about 1am and from then I had one eye on the alarm clock.
“Then your mind starts to think about the opening shot.
“But it was playing pretty docile. It was a nice way to have the opening tee shot at the Open.
“The crowd was great. I was hoping I’d get away with around 20, with 15 of them being part of my family! It was around 80 per cent full but it was very good, very impressive.”
