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Fore proper! The path of Stewart Cink’s tee shot on 18 in the initially spherical of the Open Championship.
R&A
Some times, ya acquired it. Other days, ya never.
On Thursday, Stewart Cink didn’t have it.
“It seriously hurts to have a working day like right now, due to the fact I love enjoying below,” Cink mentioned pursuing his 6-over 78 in the opening round of the 150th Open up Championship on the storied Previous Course.
That can materialize to even the most effective players in the entire world listed here on this bumpy, wind-battered backlinks, and not only because their swings are not cooperating. To post a amount on the Old Program, you also need to have to have your wits about you. Keeping away from pot bunkers and leaving solution pictures in the proper places on and close to the greens involves golfers to feel their way all around the course like a captain tacking a vessel by way of stormy waters. A single poor alternative can Cink…er, sink you.
Acquire the par-3 8th, which on the card in the very first spherical played about 190 yards. With the wind and the crispiness of the floor, Cink approximated he required to enjoy only a 170-yard shot to the again-left pin. Nope, also significantly. His ball trundled off the back, main to a bogey. Afterwards, Cink estimated that to be pin high he essential only to carry his ball about 155 yards.
“I felt like it was just one particular bad selection following an additional out there,” stated Cink, who this 7 days is actively playing in his 23rd Open up Championship. “I saved being incorrect. I’m not actually accustomed to that.”
He additional, “You get off the rails, and you just really feel like you stay off the rails.”
The derailing commenced early, at the par-4 1st. Just after splitting the sprawling fairway, Cink experienced only 83 yards left to the hole. But when he hit his method only 72 yards, it disappeared into the burn that fronts the inexperienced. A fall, chip and putt later on, Cink had an opening bogey.
Around the ensuing 16 holes, he created 5 extra bogeys versus a lone birdie, which provides us to his tee shot at the iconic 18th hole, which shares a fairway with the 1st. There’s only one particular location you can not afford to skip with your tee shot on 18, and that is appropriate, the place a active pedestrian thoroughfare known as The Hyperlinks lines the entirety of the gap.
Cink missed ideal. Like, way appropriate. A blessed admirer on The Back links experienced an unanticipated memento.
Cink is a jovial soul and very good sport, so despite the rough begin and finish to his round, he nonetheless discovered a beneficial in his struggles.
“I may possibly have established a file right now,” he explained. “I could be the initial particular person ever to strike it in the melt away on 1 and hit it O.B. on 18 in the exact same round. I really do not know, but it was just not a day for me in any way. I could not decide lies right. I read through putts improper, and I also executed some pictures rather inadequately. All round, it adds up to about 78.”
Here’s some better information: On Friday, Cink parred the 1st and birdied 18. With 3 other birdies towards as quite a few bogeys, it added up to a a great deal-enhanced score, a 1-underneath 71.
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